Never Really Over
by Ms Chanadler Bong
Summary: Hey guys! This is a story about Maeve and Otis being idiots and not communicating until they're literally locked in a bathroom together. Not sure if this is going to just be a two-shot or a whole story. Let me know what you think! Hope you guys like it!
1. Chapter 1

Maeve and Otis reluctantly walked into the dingy bathroom they called an office. It was their third appointment of the day; it was with a girl who wasn't sure her boyfriend was still attracted to her. All of this had become run of the mill at this point and Maeve and Otis had begun working like a well-oiled machine, in this department anyway. Things had been quite awkward between them since Otis had sent Maeve that voicemail and she hadn't responded; mainly because she had no idea it existed.

The session went off pretty well and the girl in question seemed quite optimistic, she became so optimistic in fact that she closed the door of the bathroom, leaving Otis and Maeve locked in.

"Uh oh." Otis said, trying to pull at the door.

"What?" Maeve asked, already sounding annoyed.

"We're locked in." Otis said, after pulling the door for the third time to no avail.

"We can't be!" Maeve said, pushing Otis aside and trying the door herself.

"Well, it's an old door and I don't think it opens based on who pulls at it." Otis said, clearly annoyed about being pushed around.

"Why are you the one who's pissed off? This is your fault." Maeve said, crossing her arms across her chest, giving Otis one of her classic death stares.

"My fault?! What the hell did I do?!" Otis asked.

"You should've held the door open, or at least told her not to close it." Maeve said.

"What? That's ridiculous. There was clearly not enough time to do that!" Otis said, surprised at how unreasonable Maeve was being. He decided to ignore her and text Eric to come and get them.

"There was and you would've known that if you ever paid any attention." Maeve said. She knew she was overreacting and being petty as all hell but all of this was a long time coming. There was a lot she wanted to say to Otis but she knew it would take something as ridiculous as them being locked in a bathroom for all of that to come out.

"I don't pay any attention?! Are you fucking kidding me?! All I ever do is pay attention, Maeve. Not that it would ever matter to you, either way." Otis said, he knew things were heading in a direction he couldn't control but at this point he just wanted to save himself from the weight on his chest that was his feelings for Maeve.

"Is there something you want to say to me, Otis? Because I would suggest coming right out and saying it instead of dancing around the subject." Maeve said, charging towards Otis a little. She was done with this miscommunication crap. If Otis had something to say, it was time he damn well said it.

Otis took a deep breath, trying to assess his options. He could always try and jump out the tiny window in the bathroom but he would probably get stuck in the window, giving Maeve the chance she clearly wanted to beat his ass. Or he could finally tell Maeve all he's been burying deep in his soul. Telling her would also mean finding out for certain if he has any chance with her. The window was starting to look really good right about now.

"Well?" Maeve asked, snapping Otis out of his thoughts.

"I told you how I felt and you didn't say anything." Otis blurted out.

"What the hell are you talking about? From what I remember, I told you how I felt and you responded by humiliating me and yourself and then sleeping with Ruby." Maeve said, turning away from Otis. She was fuming just thinking about how things had gone down between them. She would've punched Otis right in the face if she didn't love him so damn much.

Otis cringed just thinking about the memory. He hated himself for what he had done. Not only because he had hurt the person he loved most but also because he had acted like his father, something he swore he would never do.

"I'm sorry about that, I really am. But that's not what I was talking about." Otis said, putting his hand on Maeve's arm to make her face him.

"Then what are you talking about?" Maeve asked, calming down.

"The voicemail I sent you." Otis said, looking everywhere but at Maeve.

"What voicemail?" Maeve asked, getting super confused.

"I mean it's one thing to not feel the same way but to act as if I never sent it, that really hurt my feelings Maeve. I know I've been an arsehole but I guess I thought we could move past that." Otis rambled, ignoring Maeve's question.

"Otis, what the hell are you talking about?!" Maeve asked shaking Otis.

"You really don't know?" Otis asked.

Maeve shook her head as if to say no.

"The night of the Quizhead's competition, I sent you a voicemail, apologising and telling you I had feelings for you. And when I didn't hear from you, I went to the trailer to talk to you but you weren't there. I met Issac and told him to tell you to listen to your messages. Didn't he say anything?" Otis asked.

Maeve shook her head, words seemed to escape her in the moment she needed them most.

"Well, I waited for you to get back to me but you never did. I figured maybe you wanted to talk about it in person at school or something but when we met at school you didn't mention it. So I thought you just wanted to pretend it didn't happen so you wouldn't have to turn me down." Otis said, knowing Maeve wasn't in a state to talk.

Maeve's mind was running a 1000 miles/ hour but she knew it was important to tell Otis the truth. "I never got that message. Issac didn't tell me anything. Otis, I would never blank you like that, it really sucks that we're so far gone that you would even think that about me. Even if I didn't feel the same way, I would've still talked to you about it."

Otis didn't really know what to say. He wanted to ask her if she felt the same way but she had a boyfriend and if he was being honest, he wasn't sure he had it in him to hear her say she didn't like him anymore.

Maeve could sense Otis was overthinking the shit out of this situation, she was too but she knew she had to calm him down before he completely lost it. Just as she was about to say something, she heard the door open.

"Are you guys okay?" Eric asked, walking into the room.

"Fine." Maeve and Otis said at the same time.

"Did I interrupt something?" Eric asked. He could sense the tension from the second he walked through that door.

Otis and Maeve didn't say anything; they just stared at each other. There was always so much that ended up being unsaid between them. It was clear there would always be something between them but did either of them really have the courage to explore what it was?


	2. Chapter 2

Maeve and Otis stood there staring at each other, as if, if they didn't say anything, they could still somehow manage to stay in that dingy old bathroom. Both of them knew the second they walked through that door, things would go back to being complicated and unbearable. Just the thought of which made Otis dizzy.

"I have to go." Maeve said suddenly, feeling as if the walls were beginning to close in on her.

"Wait, Maeve!" Otis said, the desperation evident in his voice.

Maeve looked back at Otis, she wanted so badly to say something, anything that would make any of this better but she couldn't. The truth was she had no idea what had actually happened and before she could do anything, she needed answers. So she stormed out of that bathroom before Otis could reach out for her, knowing that if he held her hand, she wouldn't be able to let him go.

"What was that about?" Eric asked, once Maeve had left.

Otis just sighed. He had no energy to tell Eric what had happened.

"Well?" Eric asked, his eyebrows rising with curiosity.

"Apparently Maeve never got my message." Otis said, hoping that would get Eric to calm down for a bit, but he knew that wasn't going to happen till Eric knew every single detail.

"The one where you declared your undying love for Maeve?" Eric asked, nonchalantly.

"Yes." Otis said, shooting him a look. He loved Eric with all of his heart but he really didn't have it in him to deal with Eric being Eric right now.

"How is that possible? Didn't you tell Isaac to tell her about it?" Eric asked.

Otis didn't say anything; he just looked at Eric as if to ask him to connect the dots himself.

"Unless he didn't tell her.." Eric began. If this were a cartoon, an actual light bulb would've gone off above Eric's head.

"I guess he didn't." Otis said, with a shrug. His mind was racing and he was a second away from passing out from all of his overthinking.

"I never did like him, I also found him to be a little off.." Eric said.

"Well we don't know for sure." Otis said, still a little irritated.

"Are you for real? Are you actually defending the guy who sabotaged you and Maeve?" Eric asked, clearly astonished by how understanding Otis was being.

"I'm not sure any of this even matters anymore." Otis said, the defeat evident in his voice.

"Why not?" Eric asked.

"Because she clearly has some sort of feelings for him, I mean she is dating him after all." Otis said.

"She's dating him because she didn't know she had a shot with you." Eric said.

"There's no way for you to know that." Otis said.

"There is. You and Maeve are basically every teenage star-crossed lover troupe in the book. Where the only thing standing in the way of the two of you being together is that fact that the two of you are complete idiots when it comes to communication." Eric said, sounding super pleased with himself.

Otis shot Eric a look, partly because he hated when Eric acted all smug but mostly because he knew there was a lot of truth to what he was saying.

"Honestly, people pay to watch this kind of shit in movies, lucky for me I get to see it for free." Eric said, turning on his heel and leaving the bathroom, knowing he had just won that argument.

Maeve on the other hand, was less than pleased. In her mixture of utter heartbreak and blinding rage, she found herself knowing on Isaac's door.

"It's open." Isaac said.

Maeve didn't even wait to hear the entire sentence; she just marched in, ready for war.

"Hey, I was just about to text you. What do you think about us having a home cooked lunch? Home cooked by you, of course." Issac said, completely unaware of what was going on.

Maeve just stared him down, her arms crossed across her chest.

"What?" Isaac asked, finally picking up on the anger on Maeve's face.

"Why didn't you tell me about Otis' message?" Maeve asked, getting straight to the point. She had no patience for bullshit right now.

"What message?" Isaac asked, trying to play dumb.

"The one he left the night of the Quizheads final, the one he asked you to tell me about." Maeve said, getting madder by the second.

Isaac knew there was no point pretending, Maeve knew everything. He knew he had to pick his next few words carefully, so to buy himself some time he didn't say anything, he just sighed and held his head in his hands.

Isaac's sigh basically removed whatever little doubt Maeve had. She was so mad;she was seeing red.

"YOU HAD NO FUCKING RIGHT!" Maeve screamed at the top of her lungs.

"I was trying to protect you." Isaac said, raising his voice.

"Protect me?! From what?!" Maeve asked.

"Someone who doesn't love you." Isaac said.

"And how do you know that?" Maeve asked, pacing up and down the trailer trying to calm herself down.

"Because I saw the way he behaved at his party, he was a complete douche. I just wanted to save you from one more person claiming they love you, only for them to leave you. I know what that feels like, remember?" Isaac asked.

Maeve stopped in her tracks when she heard what Isaac had to say. She took a deep breath before she said anything because she knew she needed to calm down before she punched his face in.

"You know, I always thought dating someone who went through the same shit as me would mean being with someone who understood me in ways no one else could. But by doing this, by taking away my choice to decide who I do and do not keep in my life, you have shown me how much you don't understand." Maeve said.

"You're still in love with him." Isaac said.

"That has nothing to do with anything. It's not even about my feelings for Otis or even his romantic feelings for me for that matter. By not telling me, by lying to me, you made me push away one of my closest friends in the world, someone who has been there for me since the second we met. You made that choice for me. Do you think that's what I want? A knight in shining armour to come save me?! I don't need anyone to fucking save me. "Maeve said, running out of breath because of her little rant.

"Maeve.." Isaac began, trying to calm her down.

"Is that the real reason why you didn't tell me?" Maeve asked.

"What?" Isaac asked.

"Were you worried we wouldn't end up together if I knew about Otis?" Maeve asked, walking towards Isaac.

"Would we be together right now, if you did?" Isaac shot back.

Maeve was silent for a second, trying to think of the right words.

"Exactly." Isaac said, hating finding out something he always knew deep down to be true.

"So then you weren't trying to protect me, it was about you and what you wanted," Maeve said, she was done with this, all of it.

"No, it wasn't. I was protecting you because I love you. And even if you don't want to admit it, Otis will never understand what you have been through the way I will. I shouldn't have deleted his message, I should've told you. And I'm sorry for the way I handled the situation but I will not apologise for protecting you from any more pain." Isaac said, knowing he had nothing left to lose.

Maeve didn't know what to say. She could understand where he was coming from but she wasn't sure she could forgive him. It would've been one thing for her and Otis to not be together because he didn't feel the same way but for them to not get a chance because a third person made that choice for them. Nah, fuck that.

"I can't do this right now." Maeve said, walking towards the door.

"Wait, Maeve!" Isaac called out after her but she was already too far gone.

Maeve had no idea where she going, a feeling that was once very familiar to her but had become somewhat of a distant memory since she had met Otis. When did shit get this complicated? He was just supposed to be the nerdy sex genius she did business with, things were never supposed to end up in multiple love triangles. She wasn't supposed to end up yearning after him and wondering if that empty house she always imagined ending up in could actually be filled with laughter, love and some of Otis' signature awkwardness.


	3. Chapter 3

All Maeve wanted to do was scream. How the fuck did she end up here?! She wasn't supposed to feel this fucked up anymore. She hadn't in so long that she had kind of forgotten the feeling. But then Otis started dating Ola and life had become quite shit from that point on. Normally when she felt this bad, she'd think of texting Otis because he somehow knew what to say to her to make her feel like she had someone to count on. But since Otis was the reason why she was feeling this way, she thought of speaking to the only other person in the world who made her feel safe.

Maeve began running to Aimee's house. She needed an escape and she knew somewhere in the halls of that huge mansion, she would find her peace.

"Well?" Maeve asked, after telling Aimee everything that had happened.

"That's really stupid." Aimee said, the confusion evident on her face.

"What part?" Maeve asked, sounding equally confused.

"All of it." Aimee said.

"Aimes, my life is falling apart as we speak and you're calling it stupid?" Maeve asked, not knowing how to react.

"I mean that's because it is. You and Otis are clearly in love with each other and it's as if the two of you are doing everything in your power to not end up together and I can't tell why." Aimee said.

"That's not true." Maeve said, getting offended.

"Okay, why haven't you told Otis you have feelings for him since finding out about the voicemail?" Aimee asked.

"Because..." Maeve began but didn't really have an answer.

"Because?" Aimee asked.

"Because it's complicated." Maeve said, sitting up a little straighter, knowing her answer wasn't good enough.

"It isn't, you're making it complicated and I just want to know why." Aimee said.

Maeve sighed. She knew she had to talk about her feelings, if she wanted to get anywhere with this. She just hated opening up to people, but Aimee had always been there for, which was the only reason Maeve decided to give it a chance. "Everyone always lets me down. I never thought Otis would but even he has over this past year and I don't know if I can take being let down by him again.

"I get that." Aimee said, hoping Maeve would continue.

"I mean, am I really wrong for being cautious? I let Isaac in and look what happened? He straight up lied to me and sabotaged Otis and me. He says he was trying to protect me but that doesn't change the fact that he had no right to do what he did." Maeve said.

As if on cue, Maeve's phone began ringing, it was Isaac.

"Are you going to get that?" Aimee asked.

"No." Maeve said, cutting the call and throwing her phone to the side.

"I understand what you mean Maeve. But what's the plan? Are you just going to avoid both of them till we graduate?" Aimee asked.

"No.. Maybe.. I don't know." Maeve said, holding her head in her hands.

"I get that Otis let you down but I'm not sure you'll ever have a relationship where there are zero disappointments. People fuck up, it's a part of who we are. The point is, having someone who wants to make it better after fucking up. I know Otis has been a complete douche but he's also always been there for you." Aimee said.

"What if he does it again?" Maeve asked, feeling very vulnerable yet safe.

"Yeah but what if he doesn't? You literally light up around him and I've never seen you that happy with anyone, not even Jackson which is why I think you shouldn't write this off just yet. And besides, if he hurts you, I will kick his ass. I know I can take him." Aimee said, trying to flex her non-existent muscles.

Maeve couldn't help but laugh at Aimee's antics. Their friendship was something so different, sacred even. No one on the outside really understood and that was because they couldn't. The bond Maeve and Aimee had was beyond words, it was always based on showing up for each other, something they had done since day 1.

"I really like him, Aimes." Maeve said, hugging Aimee.

"I know, babe." Aimee said, hugging Maeve back.

"What should I do? I don't even know where to start." Maeve said, lifting her head from Aimee's chest and looking up at her.

"I would start by breaking up with Isaac. I never really liked him. He seemed a little too smart." Aimee said.

"I know you're right but I really don't want to." Maeve said.

"Is it because you like him?" Aimee asked.

"Yes and no. I'm just really confused about how I feel. I don't think I can trust him after what he did." Maeve said.

"There's the whole clearly being in love with Otis thing too." Aimee said, non-chalantly.

"Well, yeah. And I know that isn't fair to him but what if Otis has moved on with Ruby? I mean they're always together and he did think I ignored his message." Maeve said.

"Look, you can't keep Isaac around as a safety net. That's a dick move. You need to sort yourself out in terms of Otis on your own." Aimee said.

"Wow Aimes, that was harsh but that was really good advice. I needed that." Maeve said.

"I just want you to be happy, babes." Aimee said with a smile.

"I know and I think the only way for me to really be happy is to work this out with Otis, which is why I will talk to Isaac tomorrow." Maeve said.

"Sounds like a good plan." Aimee said.

"Thanks for listening and being there, even though I practically broke into your house." Maeve said, playing with her fingers, a smile lingering on her lips.

"Don't worry about it, we never even lock the door so it's not really breaking in." Aimee said.

Maeve burst out laughing. She had never met anyone like Aimee and she was sure she never would.

"Anyway, how about a movie marathon?" Aimee asked.

"If we're doing romantic comedies, the only one I recognise is 10 things I hate about you." Maeve said.

"That's because you're basically Kat." Aimee said.

Maeve just shrugged her shoulders with a smug look on her face.

Knowing she wasn't going to relent, Aimee began setting up the movie.

Aimee and Maeve spent the whole night watching movies and eating crisps. They didn't really talk much because just being around each other was comfort enough. Maeve knew tomorrow would be hard but for the first time since everything began unraveling, she didn't feel completely and utterly alone. Maybe instead of that lonesome apartment, she could be neighbours with Aimee. That way, looking out the window would mean seeing Aimee trying to bake a cake instead of watching her life move past her and Maeve could live with that.


	4. Chapter 4

Maeve was feeling a little better after her sleepover with Aimee but she knew there was only so much three pints of ice cream could fix. As soon as she left Aimee's house, she decided to go see Isaac. She knew this was going to suck but it was best to just rip off the band aid before she lost her nerve, right?

Maeve stood in front of Isaac's trailer door. All she could think about was how much easier it would be to run back to her own trailer and lock herself in. She'd done it so many times before; whenever the world had started closing in on her, she'd made a habit of running and hiding. If they couldn't find her, they couldn't hurt her right? But that mentality was exactly why her life had turned on its head lately. She'd finally found a bunch of people who she wanted to trust, people who actually looked out for her. The only person standing in the way of the life she wanted more than anything was herself.

She decided to gather all the badass-ness she used as her façade and knocked on the door.

Joe opened the door. Before he could say anything, Isaac called out from behind him, "Is that Maeve?"

"Yeah." Joe said, stepping aside to let Maeve in. He was giving her a look that was a mixture of I know my brother fucked up but if you hurt him, your gas cylinders will never be safe again.

"Maeve! I'm so glad you're here!" Isaac said, the happiness upon seeing her evident on his face.

Seeing Isaac that happy made Maeve feel like shit because she knew she was about to break his heart.

"I'm going to go get some milk." Joe said, clearly wanting to give them some space.

Even though what Joe had said was quite run of the mill, it reminded Maeve of the night of the QuizHeads final. She was at the shops when Otis had stopped by and spoken to Isaac. Thinking about that night and what Isaac had done, made Maeve realise she was doing the right thing.

She was snapped out of her thoughts when Isaac started talking.

"I'm really sorry, Maeve. I tried calling you all day yesterday, left you a bunch of messages. I know you're mad and you have every right to be. I fucked up. It wasn't my place to do what I did. I just really love you." Isaac said, his eyes kind of moist.

Hearing him say he loved her tugged at Maeve's heartstrings a little.

"Isaac, I.." Maeve began but stopped.

"You?" Isaac asked. He knew exactly where this was heading but he wanted to be wrong so badly that he decided to play dumb instead.

"I don't think we should be together anymore." Maeve blurted out.

"Because you're still hung up on Otis?" Isaac asked, bluntly.

"No, because you lied to me." Maeve said, getting a little angry.

"Is that really why?" Isaac asked.

"Yes." Maeve said curtly, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Alright, then answer this, did you ever have feelings for me?" Isaac asked.

"Of course, I did." Maeve said.

"Then why are you so ready to let us go?" Isaac asked, the vulnerability in his voice evident by the way it had begun to crack.

"Because, I don't think I can trust you." Maeve said.

"Because I lied?" Isaac asked.

"Yes." Maeve said, not liking the way this conversation was turning out.

"Otis has lied to you too. He's let you down too. So what's the difference between him and me? Why are you in such a hurry to run back to him? He's just going to hurt you again." Isaac said.

"Not that it's any of your business but Otis has also always been there for me, more than anyone else in my entire life. He has stood by me through things you don't have the capacity to understand and has asked me no questions. This isn't about me running to Otis, it's about you thinking its okay to sabotage my relationship with someone I care about deeply." Maeve said. She had gotten so worked up that she had forgotten to breathe. She was sick and tired of Isaac trying to tell her what an arsehole he thought Otis was. He fucked up; she knew that and so did he. But Maeve knew Otis was so much more than his recent mistakes.

"I wasn't trying to sabotage anything, I was trying to protect you. I would stand by you through anything, Maeve. And I know that you know that. You also know that I understand all your fears and anxieties because I have them too. I would fight the world for you, Maeve. What I don't understand is why you wouldn't fight for us." Isaac said.

"Your idea of protecting me is by wrapping me in bubble wrap and getting rid of everyone in my life except you. What kind of life is that, Isaac? What kind of relationship is that? You said you have the same fears and anxieties as me, that's exactly why we're not good together. The person you're with is supposed to help you overcome all your crap not find ways to run from it. I'm tired of running. " Maeve said.

Isaac didn't say anything, he just sighed. He knew there was nothing that he could say or do to convince Maeve to stay.

"Look Isaac, you're a wonderful guy. I want you to be a part of my life, to be my friend. I just don't think we work as more than that. I understand if you don't want me around, if it's too hard. But I promise this will be better for the both of us in the long run. We're too similar. Our past is always going to blind us to what is right in front of us, unless we actively stop running from it." Maeve said, turning to leave.

"Of course I want you to be a part of my life, Maeve. I meant it when I said I love you. I will always protect you, even if the person you need protecting from is me." Isaac said.

Maeve turned back around to look at Isaac. Even though she knew she was doing the right thing, for the both of them, her heart still broke for what they had. Maybe in another life, one where she had never met Otis, she and Isaac might have actually had a chance.

She ran back to give him a bone crushing hug. He hugged her back and they stayed like that for a minute or two after which Maeve left.

Walking out of that trailer, Maeve felt a sense of relief. Like the weight on her heart had been lifted a little but she knew she would never feel free till she spoke to Otis. She knew this was their shot to try and make this work but the runner in her kept telling her about all the ways in which they wouldn't end up together. But she meant what she said to Isaac, she was tired of trying to escape her own life. The only running she planned on doing was to Otis.


	5. Chapter 5

Today was the day. Maeve was going to tell Otis how she felt, or so Aimee thought. It had taken her all weekend to convince Maeve to just take the leap and now that it was finally Monday, Maeve was just about ready to run home.

"Maybe this is a bad idea." Maeve said pulling Aimee to the side as they approached the entrance of Moordale.

"Maybe it's not." Aimee said, pulling Maeve towards the school.

"I don't think I can bare hearing him say he doesn't feel the same way anymore. I've done that once and it hurt like a bitch." Maeve said.

"You literally have no reason to believe he doesn't feel the same way. The voicemail wasn't that long ago." Aimee said.

"But he's always with Ruby. And he had sex with her." Maeve said, feeling a pang in her chest at her own words.

"He was black out drunk that night. I'm sure it meant nothing to either of them. You always say how easy Otis is to talk to, so maybe they're friends." Aimee said, pulling Maeve towards the school a second time.

"Maybe you're right." Maeve said, finding comfort in Aimee's words. She knew there was probably nothing going on between Otis and Ruby but it was still really hard seeing them around school, knowing they had hooked up.

"Why are you trying so hard to find reasons to not do this?" Aimee asked.

"Because I don't want to get my heartbroken again." Maeve said bluntly. With everything she and Aimee had been through at this point, it had become a lot easier for Maeve to be honest with her and as a result with herself.

"Look if he doesn't feel the same way, then you can finally move on. But if he does feel the same way, then you can get everything you've been day dreaming about all year long." Aimee said.

"I don't day dream about Otis." Maeve said, taking mock offense.

"Oh please! You're always on the brink of completely losing your calm around him and then it's like you remember you're supposed to be badass and mysterious and so to cover up how obviously hung up you are on him, you call him dickhead." Aimee said, matter of factly.

Maeve's mouth opened and closed like a fish. She was kind of taken aback by Aimee's unabashed honestly. And also because she knew everything Aimee had said was 100% true. But she would never admit that.

"You know what? I'm not even going to dignify that with a response." Maeve said, walking away towards her locker.

"You know I'm right. Now stop wasting time, just go talk to him." Aimee said, nodding towards Otis who was standing across the hall at his locker.

Just as Maeve was about to muster up the courage to walk towards Otis, she was stopped by Ruby popping up at his side.

"Hey." Ruby said.

"Hey." Otis said, looking visibly surprised.

"Why do you look shocked to see me? Is my makeup messed up? Is it my hair?" Ruby asked, having a mini panic attack at the thought of her not looking perfect.

"No no, your hair looks great. I'm just surprised you're talking to me in the middle of the hallway." Otis said, shutting his locker.

"Of course my hair looks great, I always look great." Ruby said, doing a little hair flip after regaining her confidence.

"What's going on?" Otis asked, the smile on his face giving away how clearly amused he was by Ruby.

"I just.. I saw you looking all sad and alone, so I decided to check in." Ruby said, looking quite embarrassed.

"Wait, does that mean you're finally going to admit we're friends?" Otis asked, crossing his arms across his chest with a smug smile on his friends.

"We are not friends. If anyone asks me who you are, I'll say I don't know you." Ruby said, going back to her always-pleasant attitude.

"Then why are you checking in on me?" Otis asked.

"Because.. You weren't a complete arsehole when we.. We.. You know.." Ruby said, leaving the rest of her sentence incomplete.

"Had sex?" Otis asked.

"Yes." Ruby said, reluctantly.

"You know you can say the words out loud,right?." Otis said.

"Just because it happened, doesn't mean I want to remember it, Otis." Ruby said.

"You said I was okay!" Otis asked, a mixture of hurt and embarrassment evident on his face.

"I said you weren't terrible." Ruby said.

Otis took a deep breath; he knew he was never going to win this argument. "Well, thank you for checking on me."

"You're welcome. What's got you all mopey and weird? Well weirder than usual?" Ruby asked leaning against the wall of lockers.

"Maeve." Otis said.

"Wait, is this because you have feelings for cock biter?" Ruby asked.

"Maeve. And yes, I have feelings for her." Otis said, shooting Ruby a look.

"Didn't you basically call her a selfish bitch at your party?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah, well I super drunk and I regret it. I would take back in a heartbeat, if I could. I later left her a voicemail telling her I loved her which her boyfriend then deleted and didn't tell her about." Otis said, blurting out everything not knowing why he was having a heart to heart with Ruby of all people.

"How do you know he deleted it?" Ruby asked, still trying to appear her disinterested but failing.

"When I confronted her about it, she told me she had no idea so I assumed he deleted it." Otis said.

"Oh wow. Is this what the kind of stuff unpopular people get up to?" Ruby asked, as if she was genuinely curious.

Otis didn't know how to react to that at all. He just stared at Ruby.

"Ah fine, what's going on now?" Ruby asked. She would never admit it, but she was interested. Otis had always been great to her and she did kind of liked Maeve after she helped her with the whole leaked picture situation last year.

"I have no idea." Otis said, turning to steal a glance at Maeve who was already looking at him.

"Wait, you haven't spoken to her?" Ruby asked.

"No." Otis.

"What the fuck is wrong with you, Otis?" Ruby asked, clearly surprised at Otis being that stupid.

"She has a boyfriend, I have no idea how she feels about me." Otis said.

"She has been staring at us this entire time, in a way that can only be described as a mixture of rage and yearning. I think she feels the same way." Ruby said.

"She did tell me she liked me not too long ago." Otis said.

"Otis, I am fast losing interest in this conversation. Stop being a fucking idiot and go talk to her. Her staring is making me unconformable." Ruby said. She had now mentally checked out of the conversation and was busy admiring her nails.

Otis looked over at Maeve who quickly looked away when she realised he was now looking at her. Their eyes met for a Nano second but it was enough to increase Otis' heartbeat to 200. Maeve always had that effect on him and he for the life couldn't remember why they weren't together right now. Everything he had wanted for the longest time was standing right in front of him, so what was stopping him from taking the plunge? All he needed was 15 seconds of courage. Maeve was always the one who gave him strength but right now, she was the reason why he was afraid. His own feelings and emotions had always been confusing for Otis and feeling as deeply and intensely as he did for Maeve scared the living crap out of him.


	6. Chapter 6

A/N: I wanted to thank all of you for your wonderful reviews. It means the world to me that you would invest your time in something that I wrote. I've tried to make this longer based on what some of you said. I hope you like it xx

Maeve saw Otis walking towards her. Seeing the stressed and confused look on his face, every single bone in her body was telling her to run. She took a deep breath; she knew if she walked away from him now, he might never walk towards her again.

"Hey Maeve." Otis said, the nervousness evident in his voice.

"Hey." Maeve said, trying to seem calm.

"I'm sorry." Otis said.

"For what?" Maeve asked, confused at what Otis was apologising for.

"I shouldn't have come after you like that. After everything we've been through, I should've known you would've never pretended not have gotten the message. I just.. You were so mad at me and you had every right to be. I couldn't help but feel like maybe you just didn't want to complicate things." Otis said.

"It's okay, if the roles were reversed, I would've thought the same thing. But for what it's worth, I never got that message; Isaac deleted it before I ever got a chance to hear it. We aren't together anymore." Maeve said, blurting out the last part without much thought.

"I didn't mean to cause problems between you guys." Otis said, even though he was really happy to hear they weren't together anymore.

"You didn't. This was more about Isaac's compulsive need to feel like he was protecting me when in reality he was just making everything a lot worse." Maeve said.

"Well I'm sorry." Otis said.

"Are you? Really?" Maeve asked, suddenly feeling a little pissed off.

"Well, I thought you liked him and break ups suck." Otis said. He had a feeling he had said the wrong thing.

"Is that really all you have to say?" Maeve asked.

"I.. Um.. I just want you to be happy, Maeve." Otis said, knowing it wasn't what she wanted to hear, the second the words left her mouth.

"Are you really not going to address that message?" Maeve asked, charging towards Otis a little bit.

"I.. I didn't know if you wanted me to." Otis said, stepping back as Maeve approached him.

"It's not even about that, it's about what you want Otis. There was a reason why you sent me that message. So what is it? Do you want to pretend you didn't send it, because we can." Maeve said, crossing her arms across her chest. She was getting done with Otis' shit .She knew opening herself up was a mistake. Whenever she did, someone made her feel stupid for letting them in.

Otis knew he had fucked up, bad. He was trying to find the right words to fix what his awkwardness had screwed up but before he could, Eric walked up to him and Maeve.

"I'm so glad you two are talking again!" Eric said, putting an arm around both Maeve and Otis.

Otis and Maeve didn't say anything, they just stared at each other in the same way they had at that day in the bathroom.

"I interrupted something again, didn't I?" Eric asked, removing his arms from around the two of them.

"Not really. We're just back to the same old shit. Nothing really changes with us, does it Otis?" Maeve asked, storming off before Otis could say anything.

"Maeve! Wait!" Otis called after her but she was already down the hall.

"What the hell was that?" Eric asked.

"Maeve and Isaac broke up." Otis said, leaning his head against the wall of lockers.

"That's great! Why are you both so upset then?" Eric asked.

"Because she asked me about the message and I didn't say anything." Otis said.

"Why not?" Eric asked, clearly confused by how dumb Otis was being, again.

"I just panicked. I wanted to find the right words but they never come to me." Otis said, sighing.

"Do you even want to be with Maeve?" Eric asked, suddenly getting serious.

"Of course I do. Why would you even ask me that?" Otis asked, sounding a little offended.

"Because you keep sabotaging yourself. It's almost like just when you're about to finally get together, something in your brain goes off and you make sure you can't just say how you feel." Eric said.

"It's not that easy to tell someone you love them, you know?" Otis said.

"It's not that, you told her you loved her before. I think it's about your dad." Eric said.

"How is this about my dad?" Otis asked, turning to face Eric. It always struck a nerve when his dad was brought up. Of course he loved him but he had also scarred him in so many ways that he didn't know where to begin healing himself.

"I think you're worried about hurting Maeve. You're worried you're going to cheat on her or not be there for her. And somehow denying yourself her feels like a better idea than being the one who breaks her heart." Eric said.

"All of that would've been true with Ola too, so why did I choose to be with her?" Otis asked, clearly offended.

"Because what you felt for Ola was nowhere near what you feel for Maeve, which is why you're being like this. The fucked up part of this is that, you think by not being with her, you're protecting her from a world of hurt but what you're actually doing is making her feel like she isn't the person you want. You're not your father, Otis. You never have been. But by spending your life trying to not be like him, you're going to become him. This sabotaging a relationship that you want, that would be good for you, that's classic Remi." Eric said.

Otis tried to say something in response, anything that would get Eric to stop talking about this. He wanted to drag his feet, deny the clear truth in Eric's words but he couldn't.

"Otis, you need to stop overthinking yourself into not living your life." Eric said.

Otis was about to say something but before he could the bell rang. Eric gave him a supportive smile and walked away. Otis kind of wanted to look for a room where he could lock himself. He had gone and ruined this, again. Maybe it was because somewhere deep down; he felt he didn't deserve Maeve. But god, did he love her. He knew it wasn't Isaac he had to fight for Maeve; he had to fight himself, his own demons.

Maeve texted Aimee as she ran to the bathroom with tears in her eyes.

"I came as soon as I saw your texts. What's wrong?" Aimee asked, walking towards Maeve who was standing by the sink.

"I told Otis that Isaac and I broke up." Maeve said, wiping her tears.

"What did he say?" Aimee asked, putting her arms around Maeve.

"He said he was sorry and he didn't mean to cause problems between us. I asked if he wanted to talk about the message and before he could say much, Eric came and interrupted us." Maeve said, putting her head on Aimee's chest.

"It kind of seems like that conversation was incomplete but it wasn't bad. Why are you crying?" Aimee asked.

"Because I got so mad at him during the conversation, it felt like he wanted to do anything but talk about the message. And the fact he was talking to Ruby before that made me feel like he was kind of over it." Maeve said.

"I was with you till he talking to Ruby, they seemed like they were just friends." Aimee said.

"He was all smiley and Ruby was talking to him at school, she would never do that if it wasn't important. God, I hate this. I knew I shouldn't have been vulnerable. People really are the gift that keeps on giving huh? You let them in and they just fucking let you down." Maeve said, sobs escaping her lips between words.

"I don't think things are that bad, babe. This is just classic you and Otis. You guys are horrible at communicating. Especially Otis, he gets really awkward and squirmy at times. Maybe it's hard to talk about his feelings for him too." Aimee said.

"His whole job is helping people with their feelings. How can he be so bad at dealing with his own?" Maeve asked, still feeling really mad at Otis.

"It's really easy dealing with other people, dealing with your own crap is a whole other ball game. Anyone can tell he's crazy about you, Maeve. Just don't give up on him yet." Aimee said.

"But what if he isn't, what if this is yet another situation that ends with me heartbroken?" Maeve asked.

"You've invested too much of your heart into him to not give this a real shot, Maeve. " Aimee said.

Maeve just looked up at Aimee but didn't say anything. She was just so tired of feeling like this. She hugged Aimee tighter than before, hoping the hug would put the pieces of her that were breaking back together.


	7. Chapter 7

Things between Otis and Maeve had been quite shit. Otis had tried to reach out to her over the next couple of days but she hadn't returned any of his calls. He would've left her a message but knowing their history with those, he figured it was better to just talk to her in person.

Otis was taking stuff out of his locker, getting ready to go home. The day had been absolute hell, he'd spent the whole day either overthinking about what to say to Maeve if he saw her or being completely ignored by her when he did.

"We have an appointment right now." Maeve said, appearing next to Otis.

"What?" Otis asked.

"We have an appointment right now." Maeve said, repeating the first words she had said to Otis in days.

"Oh okay." Otis said, awkwardly.

"Is that going to be a problem?" Maeve asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

"No no, I just didn't think you were talking to me." Otis said.

"We run a business together, that's all this is about." Maeve said, even though she didn't mean the words.

Otis visibly deflated, he kind of expected Maeve to shut him out but somehow hearing her say how little she seemed to care about him really broke his heart.

"Okay, let's go." Otis said, shutting his locker.

Maeve and Otis walked to the dingy bathroom they called an office. Not a single word escaped either of their lips but the tension was palpable. It almost felt like the weight of their unspoken words would make the old bathroom come undone.

In the time they waited for their client to arrive, Otis thought and rethought about making conversation, just anything to make him feel like their situation was salvageable. Just as he was about to gather the courage to comment about the weather the client walked in.

Otis had chemistry class with the tall guy standing in front of him, with blonde hair and blue eyes shinning in the sunlight. He looked a bit like an Abercrombie model and Otis was definitely not the only one who had noticed. Maeve was clearly checking the boy out.

"Hey, thanks for doing this." The boy said.

"No worries Chris, what's the problem." Otis asked, wanting to get on with it.

"So I've been hooking up with this girl." Chris said.

"Okay, what's the problem?" Otis asked.

"I think I'm in love with her." Chris said with a dreamy look on his face.

"And that's affecting your performance?" Otis asked. He was normally so awkward about everything, especially sex but whenever he was conducting a session, Otis was like a boy transformed.

"No." Chris said.

"It's affecting her then?" Otis asked, getting kind of confused and irritated at the same time.

"No, she's great and she seems to really enjoy it. We both do." Chris said.

"Okay, I'm not really sure I understand what's going on." Otis said.

"Well, I think I love her and we agreed that this was going to be a casual, friends with benefits kind of thing." Chris said.

"Okay, but you know that this is a sex clinic, right? I'm here to help you with sex related problems. Emotions aren't really my domain." Otis said.

Maeve scoffed at that. God did she know how pathetic Otis could be when it came to dealing with emotions.

Otis shot Maeve a look, partly because he was getting kind of sick of her being so mean but also because he was embarrassed at how true his statement was.

"I know but I've heard you kind of get to the root of problems for people, kind of like therapy. Can you help me out this one time? I would really owe you." Chris said, trying to convince Otis using his puppy dog eyes.

Otis turned to Maeve to ask her what she thought. Maeve shrugged in response, as if to say it didn't matter to her since they were getting paid.

"Okay fine, this one time." Otis said, his voice already sounding a little defeated.

"Thanks man!" Chris said.

"Okay so why is you being in love with this girl a bad thing?" Otis asked.

"Because this is supposed to be casual, neither of us signed up for being in love or whatever. What if she doesn't feel the same way?" Chris asked.

"Okay, has she given any sign that she might feel the same way?" Otis asked.

"Not in words. But she always wants to hang out even when we aren't hooking up and she likes to hold my hand when we go out sometimes. But more than anything and this is going to sound super cheesy and if you ever tell someone I said, I'll deny it but sometimes the way she looks at me makes me feel like she might like me too." Chris said, his ears turning a shade of pink.

"That's actually sweet man, you should tell her." Otis said.

Maeve looked at Otis in disbelief. It was insane how easily he told Chris to reveal his feelings but when it came to his own it felt like Otis had locked them in a safe at the bottom of the sea.

"Yeah but what if she doesn't feel the same way?" Chris asked.

"What if she does?" Maeve asked, surprising herself. She normally stayed silent during these sessions but she couldn't help herself.

"But if she did, wouldn't she have said something?" Chris asked.

"What if she's waiting for you to say something? What if she's scared too and all she needs is some reassurance that you feel the same way?" Maeve asked.

Otis was looking at Maeve in awe; both of them knew she wasn't talking to Chris at all.

"You're right, I like her too much to fuck this up." Chris said.

"You should shoot your shot, in a non creepy way of course." Otis said.

"Yeah, thanks Maeve." Chris said, walking out of the bathroom finally feeling like the biggest load on his chest had been lifted.

Maeve and Otis had one of their signature staring contests, where it almost felt like they were communicating telepathically or something. There was so much Maeve wanted to say in that moment but she was sick and tired of being the one putting herself out there, only to feel utterly rejected at the end of it. She was the first to look away and began heading towards the door.

"Maeve, wait!" Otis called out from behind her.

Maeve despite her best judgment stopped in her tracks because even though she would never admit it, hearing Otis say her name always had an effect on her.

"What?" Maeve asked.

"I know I've been fucking up but can we just talk for one second?" Otis asked.

"What is there left to talk about Otis? I have nothing left to say, I'm all talked out." Maeve said, turning around and facing Otis.

"Alright fair enough but can you at least hear me about?" Otis asked.

Maeve took a deep breath and didn't say anything. She just shook her head as if asking Otis to continue.

"For the past few months, all I've wanted is to find the right words to say and describe how I feel about you. I've thought and overthought this to such an extent that it's left me paralysed. So instead of trying to find the right words, I'm just going to speak from my heart and tell you the words you were supposed to hear in that message. I love you, Maeve. It's as simple and as complicated as that. Before I met you, life was passing me by. I didn't want to be seen because I didn't believe I deserved to be. I just thought I would get through life staying in my own lane and trying to hurt as few people as possible. My dad and the way he treated me and my mom fucked me up in ways I am yet to discover. And I was okay with that version of my life until you came along. It's like you opened my eyes to my own life and everything I had been missing out on. You showed me that I was good at something that everything, all the broken parts of me could be used to help other people as they fixed their broken parts. You more than saw me; you pulled me out of the darkness and shone a light on me. And I think I knew I loved you from the second I bumped into you in the hallway and you called me an idiot. I have loved every you every second since then. Even when you shut me out, but especially when you let me in. Even when you call me a dickhead and but especially when you smile at me and somehow tell me exactly what I needed to hear in the moment.

My inability to say these words was never because I didn't feel them; it was because of the intensity of my feelings for you. You deserve someone who tells you they love you everyday, someone who doesn't let you down. Someone who says these words before they lose their essence. I know I'm flawed and awkward and so deeply confused but I am also someone who loves you with everything he has. And I just want you to know that." Otis said.

He didn't know where he found the courage to say everything that he had held back for so long but Otis knew by the look Maeve had on her face as she was walking to leave that if he didn't say them now, their meaning would be lost forever. The only thing worse for him than Maeve not loving him back was her not being a part of his life at all.

Maeve hadn't said anything in response; she was just staring at him. Otis didn't push her for an answer. They had waited for each other for so long, what was another few minutes?


	8. Chapter 8

A/N: Hey guys! Thank you so much for the wonderful feedback, I love that you're enjoying the story. I'm sorry I kind of disappeared, life just always got in the way whenever I wanted to write this chapter. But now that I finally have my schedule under control, here's the new chapter in celebration of the season three announcement! Hope you guys like it x

Otis just stood there, staring at Maeve. It felt his heart was dropping, every second that Maeve stood in front of him in silence.

"You don't have to say anything. I just wanted you to know." Otis said. The silence in the room was beginning to feel suffocating.

Maeve didn't say anything in response; she just stared at Otis, her eyes shinning with tears waiting to be shed.

"Hey, don't cry! It's okay; we're okay no matter what you feel. I know this has been confusing as all hell and that's because of me.." Otis began; he really wanted to be comforting. Despite how much his heart was breaking in the moment, the last thing he wanted was for Maeve to feel hurt because of his unrequited feelings.

"Otis.." Maeve said, trying interrupt what she knew was fast becoming an unstoppable rant.

"Feelings are complicated, I get that. It's completely normal to feel overwhelmed.." Otis continued, not hearing Maeve try and stop him. Somehow his mind thought the right reaction to this situation was to turn on his therapist mode.

"I love you!" Maeve shouted. She didn't actually mean to shout; she just didn't know how else to stop Otis from rambling. She was also kind of overwhelmed by her feelings but she didn't want to encourage Otis turning into a therapist every time they had an argument.

"You do?" Otis asked, the disbelief evident in his voice.

"I do." Maeve said, taking a deep breath. There was so much she had left unsaid and she knew she didn't want to hold back any longer. She just needed to collect her thoughts.

"I'm not good with feelings. Actually I've spent my whole life trying to find ways to suppress them. Feelings just felt like a weakness when all I really had was myself. And I spent my life being okay with being alone to the extent that I imagine my future in a house alone, looking in on people living out the rest of their lives. And this is something I have never said out loud to anyone. I just barely found the courage to write about it. But the thing is, with you, I didn't have to think for a second. And I think a large part of that is because if you 'd heard my essay, without anyone telling you it was mine, you would just know. You're the reason why for the first time in my life I feel like I can have things that I didn't even let myself have in my daydreams because they seemed so far fetched. You make me feel safe and that felt scary for a while because I did had never experienced someone who could actually stay long enough to provide me with safety and warmth and love. And that's what scares me the most, how deeply I feel for you, even in moments where it's the last thing I want to do. Every single bone in my body is telling me to run, to not let you all the way in. That somehow now is when I still have an out. But I'm not going to run because the way I feel when you look at me the way you are right now, as if I make your world go around, it gives me strength to put my heart on the line for you and for me. Please don't prove me wrong. " Maeve said, saying every single thought and feeling she had held back out of fear of being too much.

"You're all I want, Maeve. I promise to love you, always. I'm not fucking this up again." Otis said, taking a step towards Maeve.

Maeve smiled her signature smile, where she kind of bit her lip and looked down. She couldn't believe she was blushing or even the fact that she had butterflies wrecking havoc in her stomach. But none of that mattered in the moment because she was seconds away from kissing the love of her life for the first time.

Both Maeve and Otis leaned in at the same time. At first it was just a slight brush of the lips but it felt like someone had set each and every one of their nerves alight. Maeve had always thought it was super cliché when people said they saw fireworks when they kissed someone, she thought it was a bunch of badly written mush. But standing in that dingy bathroom, kissing Otis, she could literally see the fireworks going off behind her eyelids, as if her whole life had been leading up to this moment. But she would never admit that because even though Otis was her whole heart, she still didn't need no man.

Otis, on the other hand was trying to stop himself from blacking out. They were now kissing properly, both of them tilting their heads a little to deepen the kiss. Otis was so nervous; he was never good at these kinds of things. He really didn't want to disappoint Maeve before they even got started.

While he was busy trying to muster up the courage to make the next move, Maeve had already sensed the unease in Otis' body language. She knew she would have to make the next move and she was okay with that, all she wanted was Otis. Maeve brought her tongue near Otis' bottom lip, as if to ask for permission, which he granted.

"Wait!" Otis said, pulling away with swollen lips and his breath caught in his throat.

"What's wrong?" Maeve asked, equally breathless and in shock at how things had turned out.

"As much as I enjoyed this because I did, I do. I just, I don't want to do this for the first time in an old, leaking bathroom. I want to take you out on a date and actually show you how much you mean to me." Otis said, suddenly getting shy when he realised how vulnerable he was being.

Maeve couldn't stop smiling, at all. She couldn't help remember the first time; she had bumped into Otis, how she hadn't given him a second thought at the time and now he was all she ever thought about. And he was here, standing in front of her, being the perfect guy. He literally felt like he had come out of a romantic comedy, something Maeve had sworn was not her thing. But here she was, falling, so fucking hard.

"So you want to take me out?" Maeve asked, smiling at how fast Otis' ears had turned pink at the question.

"Yes." Otis said.

Maeve just stared at Otis, waiting for him to ask.

"Maeve, would you like to go on a date with me?" Otis asked.

"I would love to." Maeve said. Now she was the one with pink ears, looking at anywhere but Otis. Maeve honestly had no idea how she felt about herself being coy. This was the literal opposite of the image she had created for herself. And while she was going through this internal existential crisis, she finally looked up at Otis. Looking at his blue eyes shinning in the sunlight coming from the broken window, the last of her walls came crumbling down.

"How about tomorrow night?" Otis asked, taking Maeve's hand and beginning to walk out of the bathroom. He had no idea where he got the courage from but he decided to go with it.

Maeve took a couple of seconds to understand what was happening. She just stood there staring at her hands intertwined with Otis'. When her brain finally caught up, she decided to reply. "Sounds perfect." She said, giving Otis a peck on the check, making him turn red all over again.


	9. Chapter 9

Maeve hadn't stopped smiling since she and Otis had finally stopped beating around the bush and had confessed their love for each other. She never thought she would ever be someone who would be that affected by one person, but here she was, smiling when she saw beautiful flowers or when the sun shined just right. She was getting soft not that she'd ever admit it.

"I'm so glad, you and Otis decided to stop being stupid." Aimee said, as she and Maeve walked towards their lockers.

"I mean that's one way of putting it but yeah, me too." Maeve said.

"Do you guys know what you're going to be doing?" Aimee asked.

"I don't but I think Otis does. He doesn't want to tell me yet." Maeve said with a shy smile.

"It's tomorrow night, right?" Aimee asked.

"Yup." Maeve said, reaching her locked.

Maeve turned around to look for Otis, who was talking to Ruby. She didn't want to admit it but it really pissed her off seeing them together. She knew Otis said there was nothing going on between them but could Ruby just back the fuck off? She obviously knew there was something going on between her and Otis. Maybe it was the fact that Maeve always felt unsure of what kind of relationship Otis wanted with her and that led her to feel insecure around Ruby. But that was something Maeve didn't want to think about.

"Don't." Aimee said, interrupting Maeve's thoughts.

"What?" Maeve asked, turning towards Aimee.

"Don't start losing your shit. There is nothing going on between them and you know it." Aimee said.

"I wasn't.." Maeve began but was interrupted by Otis appearing behind her and giving her peck on the cheek. He had left Ruby as soon as he saw Maeve .

"Hey." Otis said with a smile that threatened to take up most of his face.

"Hey, dickhead." Maeve said, starting to melt a little.

"How are you this morning?" Otis asked. He really wanted to come up with something better but at this point Maeve knew what a little dork he was so there was no point pretending to be suave.

"I'm alright, how about you?" Maeve asked, catching Ruby's eye. The second that she did, her expressions changed from her Otis smile to one of her wanting to rip Ruby's head off.

"Is everything okay?" Otis asked, looking back to see who Maeve was trying to kill with her eyes.

"I'm going to leave you two to it." Aimee said, clearly not wanting any part in this.

"Yeah, why wouldn't it be?" Maeve asked, her falls clearing building up again as she redirected her gaze to Otis.

"You just.. you seem kind of angry looking at Ruby. Is this because I was talking to her earlier?" Otis asked, trying to tread as lightly as possible.

"I'm not, why would I be? Is there something I should be angry about?" Maeve asked, crossing her arms across her chest. She knew she was starting to be a little unreasonable but she couldn't help herself.

"No, not at all. I mean, Ruby and I are just friends." Otis said.

"Yeah." Maeve said.

"Are you.. are you jealous? Is that what's going on right now?" Otis asked.

"Why would I be jealous of her?" Maeve asked, clearly getting very offended.

"No, I'm not saying that.. I just. I'm going to stop talking." Otis said, knowing he was in a lot of trouble.

"Yeah, you do that." Maeve said storming off.

"Maeve! Maeve! Wait!" Otis called out after her but she was already gone.

"That seemed intense." Eric said, appearing next to Otis.

"Yeah, I think she's mad at me because she saw me talking to Ruby." Otis said.

"You told her, you guys are just friends, right?" Eric asked.

"Yeah of course I did, how dumb do you think I am? " Otis asked, getting irritated with no one giving him any credit.

"Well usually, I don't think you're dumb at all. But when it comes to Maeve, you're a fucking idiot." Eric said, feeling especially honest this fine morning.

"Thanks." Otis said, beginning to walk away.

"Hey come on, don't get mad. Did you try to talk to her?" Eric asked.

"Of course I did. But she did the thing where she crosses her arms across her chest and with that she closes off every part of her. It's like an impenetrable wall comes up around her and I used to think I was good at breaking through but not so much." Otis said.

"Look, it's maybe just that you and Ruby have history and that makes her uncomfortable, just talk it out. Please don't do the miscommunication thing again, it's horrible on me." Eric said, being his dramatic self.

"It's horrible on you?" Otis asked, shooting Eric a glare.

"Yes." Eric said.

"I'll try and talk to her. I'll text her right now." Otis said, taking his phone out of his pocket.

But this was Maeve and Otis; communication was never going to be easy. Maeve ignored each and every one of Otis' texts. The only respite he had was that they had an appointment this afternoon. The only time they seemed to be good at talking about feelings was when they weren't their own. Maybe dealing with someone else's problems would help them work through their own shit.

The session went about pretty fast. Maeve practically avoided eye contact with Otis the entire time. She had no idea why she was so mad. She had never been the jealous type but right now all she could see was red.

As soon as the session got over, she tried to run out of the dingy bathroom they called an office but was intercepted by Eric at the door.

"You're not going anywhere." Eric said from the door.

"Eric, get out of my way." Maeve said, with the scariest look she could muster.

"I would, I really would but I do not have the patience to deal with another one of your communication black outs. Absolutely not. I am finally happy in my life and that can only last if my best friend is happy. And believe it or not, I care about you too, Maeve and I want you to be happy and the only way that will happen is if you two are together. So I don't care what deep and dark secrets you need to reveal to each other to take this forward. But it's happening now." Eric said, shutting the door behind him as he walked out.

"Eric!" Maeve screamed, pounding on the door and quickly pulling her hand back once she realized how dirty the door was.

"We're going to be here a while so we might as well talk. He won't come back till we fix this." Otis said.

Maeve ignored Otis and tried looking for an escape.

"Why are you so scared talking to me?" Otis asked, standing in front of Maeve and pulling her closer to him.

"I'm not scared." Maeve said, her eyes darting from Otis' eyes to his lips. She was finding this confident side of Otis very attractive, so much so that she almost forgot to be mad at him.

"Then what is it?" Otis asked, his eyes seeming kind of pleading.

Maeve took a deep breath. She hated fighting with Otis and this time she had no idea why she was even doing it.

"I hated seeing you with Ruby. It drove me mad." Maeve said.

"Why? There's nothing going on between her and I." Otis said.

"You lost your virginity to her, Otis. The same night you called me the most selfish person you knew." Maeve said.

"I'm so sorry, Maeve. I always will be. But I was drunk out of my mind, I don't even remember having sex with Ruby, that's how drunk I was. I didn't mean anything I said to you that night. I was hurt because I had lost you. I'd imagined you being my first girlfriend, my first time all of it. And I know we can't have that but I don't care. You are the only person I want to be with, that's been true since the day we met. I don't want to pressure you. If you want time, you can have that. I'll wait." Otis said. He didn't want time, he knew they'd wasted way too much already but he'd never push Maeve to something she didn't feel ready for.

"I don't want time." Maeve blurted out. She knew she'd fucked up. She didn't want time, she wanted to be with Otis, but her rage and her insecurities about herself kept getting in the way.

"Okay, what do you want then?" Otis asked.

"I want to be with you." Maeve said.

"And I want to be with you, so what is the problem?" Otis asked, the confusion and frustration evident in his voice.

"I keep waiting for the other shoe to drop. I have always had complete control over my life. I have never depended on anyone because there was no one to depend on. But with you, I'm always smiling and how things are between us influences every single aspect of my life. I've never felt like this, so the thought that you might leave me for someone, anyone, makes me want to run the fuck away. I have always fucked up stuff because I don't trust anyone and that's because no one ever gave me a good enough reason to trust them. So when I see you with Ruby, every single voice in my head that told me I wasn't good enough or that I'll never be what you want comes alive. Those voices were the loudest at your party. I don't want to be jealous, I don't to be someone who tells you who to be friends with. That's the kind of toxic shit, I've seen all my life and I won't do it. But I'm scared of losing control and losing myself to you. I don't know how to do this relationship thing but I want to learn." Maeve said.

"I won't plan our date then." Otis said.

"What? You don't want to go out with me anymore?" Maeve asked, the panic evident in her voice. She was sure she had finally scared him away with all her baggage.

"What no, of course I do. I just think maybe you should plan it. I mean, you said you don't like losing control, so maybe this is a way where you can still feel like you're in control? And besides we can take it as slow as you want. We can literally do whatever makes you feel comfortable and safe, that's the most important thing. And for what it's worth, I don't know how to do relationships either, I've never been a boyfriend." Otis said.

Maeve smiled the smile she had reserved for Otis. She was always in awe of how much he cared for her, how much he wanted her to see all that she deserved. And hearing him say that he was her boyfriend gave Maeve butterflies. And normally, she would have tried to resist them in her many attempts to keep her walls up, but not today. She let them fall and how.

"I'm sorry was that me pushing it? I mean I know we never talked about how to label our relationship but I just thought because we said I love you that we would want to be exclusive and be boyfriend and girlfriend but we won't have to if you don't want to. I mean I do but.." Otis' rambling was interrupted by Maeve kissing him.

She kissed him partly because he would not stop talking but also because she just really wanted to kiss him.

"Of course, I want you to be my boyfriend. Dick head." Maeve said with a smile, before leaning in to kiss him again.

The voices in her head were still there and maybe they would always be, but Maeve decided to not focus on them. She decided to focus instead on how Otis' hands were in her hair and how he was kissing her as if his life depended on it.


	10. Chapter 10

Maeve had been losing her mind trying to figure out what to do for her date with Otis. She really wanted it to be something that was fun yet special but she had no idea what that could be.

"I have no idea what to do." Maeve said, as she carried the popcorn over from Aimee's kitchen. They were having yet another movie night.

"I think you're overthinking this. He's crazy about you, he probably doesn't even care what you guys do." Aimee said.

"Yeah but I do. He's letting me plan this so that I have control and so that I feel safe while letting him in. I sound like such a sap." Maeve said, cringing at how cheesy she was beginning to sound.

"You really do. But it's cute." Aimee said, reassuringly.

Maeve just rolled her eyes.

"Look, I kind of feel like you'll just know what to do. Your stomach will tell you." Aimee said.

"My stomach?" Maeve asked, a mixture of confusion and amusement in her voice.

"You know, like your instincts will tell you." Aimee said.

"Do you mean my gut will tell me?" Maeve asked, trying to suppress her laughter.

"Yeah, that." Aimee said, still completely nonchalant.

"Thanks, Aims." Maeve said, wrapping her friend in a hug.

"No worries." Aimee said, picking up the remote to start the movie.

The girls were watching 10 Things I Hate About You for the 100th time and Maeve wasn't paying a lot of attention. They were watching the scene where Kat and Patrick go on a date where they play paintball.

"That's it!" Maeve said, having a little eureka moment.

"What?" Aimee asked.

"Otis and I can go and play paintball on our date!" Maeve said.

"That actually sounds like a lot of fun. See I told you, you know when you know." Aimee said, looking very proud of herself.

"You were right, my stomach really does know what's up." Maeve said.

Aimee just nodded in agreement and went back to watching the movie.

Maeve quickly looked up some paintball places. Once she'd found her favourite, she texted Otis the address.

"Hi, what's this?" Otis responded.

"This is where we're going on our date tomorrow but you can't look up the place." Maeve said.

"What? Why?" Otis asked.

"Because I want it to be a surprise." Maeve said.

"Yeah but I need to look it up because I don't how to get there.." Otis said.

Maeve had really not thought this through in all her excitement.

"Alright, you make a good point. How about this, you and I go together, after school but you can't look up where we're going." Maeve replied.

"Alright, I won't." Otis said.

"If you do, I'll know." Maeve said.

"I know you will, I promise I wont." Otis said.

"Good." Maeve replied, not being able to suppress the smile that appeared on her face whenever she spoke to Otis.

"I'm really looking forward to this, Maeve." Otis said.

"Me too." Maeve replied, putting her phone aside and getting back to the movie.

She was getting really excited and nervous at the same time. But that's how she always seemed to feel when it came to Otis.

The next day, Maeve cancelled all their sex clinic appointments so that nothing could come in the way of their date. They decided to meet up at the school entrance and just walk because the paintball place was very close.

"Hey." Otis said, walking up to Maeve and giving her a peck on her cheek.

"Hey dickhead." Maeve responded, trying to hide the blush creeping up her cheeks.

As they began to walk Maeve reached out and took Otis' hand and intertwined their fingers. Otis looked down at their hands and smiled, hoping that Maeve couldn't tell how nervous how he was.

"So there's no way you're going to tell me where we're going, is there?" Otis asked.

"No, not a chance." Maeve said, looking smug.

"Ah fine." Otis said.

"The good news is, we're almost there." Maeve said, giving Otis a small smile.

The rest of their walk was filled with them discussing their day and staring at each other way more than necessary.

"We're going to be playing paintball!" Maeve said extending her hands to highlight the board, which said "paintball" behind her.

Otis tried really hard to hide his discomfort but it was no use because one, he was horrible at controlling his face and two, Maeve could read him like a book.

"You don't like it." Maeve said, deflating a little.

"No no, I do!" Otis said.

"You really need to tell your face that." Maeve said, a little irritated.

"No.. I.. This is really embarrassing. I bruise like really easily…" Otis said.

Maeve started at Otis for a second and then burst out laughing.

"What?" Otis asked, getting a little embarrassed.

"Don't worry, I'll go easy on you." Maeve said between fits of laughter.

Otis just rolled his eyes and started walking towards the entrance; Maeve followed him in, still laughing. Both of them went in to get geared and once they were done, they were assigned to teams. Of course they were on different teams.

They were about to head out but Maeve stopped Otis. He looked really confused but that could've been because he honestly had no idea what he was doing. Maeve just stared him for a second, he looked so cute in all that protective armour that she couldn't help but lean in for a quick kiss.

"What was that for?" Otis asked, sounding very clearly dazed.

"It was because I'm about to kick your arse." Maeve said, running out.

Otis just stood there for a second, his brain taking time to catch up with his body.

"Hey!" Otis said, running out after Maeve once he was finally back in his senses.

Otis was trying his level best to just hide. He didn't want to be hit, he figured if he hid long enough, the other players on his team would get them to either win or lose, and in both of those outcomes, the game would be over.

Of course Maeve had other plans. In the game, much like the rest of her life, she only had eyes for Otis. It didn't take her long to find him hiding in one of the sheds.

"Hey, so now that you've found me, you don't really need to shoot me right?" Otis asked, really hoping this would work.

"Yeah no I have to shoot you, it doesn't count otherwise." Maeve said, walking closer to Otis.

"But Maeve.." Otis began but was interrupted by her shooting him right in the chest. It honestly didn't hurt as much as he thought it would. And it was kind of worth it seeing the smug look on Maeve's face.

"Ugh, right in the heart huh?" Otis asked, clutching his chest in a super dramatic way. Eric would've been proud.

"Oh fuck, are you hurt?" Maeve asked, dropping her gun and rushing towards Otis who was sitting at the other end of the shed.

"Umm hmm." Otis said, still clutching his chest. He decided to go along with it, because it was actually fun fucking with Maeve.

"Oh shit, I'm really sorry." Maeve said, checking Otis for marks.

Otis found Maeve's concern really endearing but also very amusing, which is why he burst out laughing.

"You're a real dick head, you know that?" Maeve asked, crossing her arms across her chest.

"I'm sorry." Otis said, reaching for Maeve but she backed off.

"Oh come on." Otis said, pulling her arms off her chest and wrapping his own arms around her waist.

Maeve wanted to still appear mad but her façade was crumbling really fast having Otis this close.

"Thank you for planning this, I had a really time." Otis said, leaning in to kiss Maeve.

Every time they kissed, it always felt as exciting and electrifying as the first time. They pulled away when they really needed to catch their breaths. And while they were doing so, they just shared a moment looking into each other's eyes.

"What's on your mind?" Otis asked, sensing Maeve was worried about something.

"I was just thinking about how glad I am, that you had fun." Maeve said.

"Were you worried about that?" Otis asked, pulling Maeve into himself.

"Yeah." Maeve said, leaning her head against Otis' chest.

"Why? I always have fun when I'm with you." Otis said.

"I just.. Since we've gotten together, I've kind of been really emotional and I was worried that we were becoming one of those couples that had no fun and was super boring." Maeve said.

Otis pulling away so he could look into Maeve's eyes. "I am never worried about us being boring."

"You aren't?" Maeve asked.

"Yeah! Don't tell Eric I said this but you're the most fun person I know. I have fun with you whether we're in that dingy toilet we can an office or if we're playing paintball. You're always exciting to me Maeve, especially when you open up to me. It means everything to me and nothing you tell me will ever make think of you as less fun, only more real." Otis said.

Maeve didn't really know what to say. She smiled her Otis smile and leaned into kiss him as passionately as humanly possible. She was hoping the kiss would tell him everything she didn't know how to articulate. Otis reciprocated her level of passion, his hands fast finding her hair. And that's how they spent the rest of their afternoon, making it out in a shed at the paintball place. It was not the most romantic place by a long shot but it didn't matter because they were with each other, exploring new facets of the person they loved.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N: I know it's been a while since I last posted but I promise I'm going to try and be faster with updates. I just wanted to take a moment to thank you all for your wonderful reviews and ideas, I really appreciate all of it xx Writing this story is so much more fun knowing you guys are on this journey with me, hope you like where it leads us!

Things between Maeve and Otis were going great. They were finally past all the miscommunication and the baggage of their past and were trying their best to move forward together.

Maeve was talking to Aimee as she took books out of her locker.

"Hey you." Otis said, wrapping his arms around Maeve's waist as he stood behind her.

"Hey dickhead." Maeve said, turning around in Otis' arms.

Otis smiled and gave Maeve what was supposed to be a quick kiss but of course turned into them making out in the middle of the hallway. Neither of them ever thought they were would be that couple, the one who makes out no matter what the situation and can't get enough of each other but here they were.

"I love you both but can you not?" Eric asked, walking up to them.

Maeve and Otis reluctantly pulled away from their kiss but still held onto each other.

"You guys are really sappy and I don't know if I love it or hate it." Eric said.

Maeve gave Eric the kind of look that if looks could kill, he would be dead.

"Alright, I'll stop." Eric said.

"So what are you guys doing today?" Aimee asked.

"Isaac." Maeve responded.

"What?!" Otis asked, his voice a mixture of confusing and annoyance.

"Is here." Maeve said as she stared straight ahead.

Eric, Otis and Aimee followed Maeve's gaze to find Isaac coming towards them.

"Hey guys!" Isaac said happily, acting as if he didn't actively sabotage Maeve and Otis' relationship literally a month ago.

"Hey Isaac, what are you doing here?" Maeve asked, looking at Isaac and then at Otis.

Maeve had never seen Otis look this angry. He was doing everything to not look at Isaac. Maeve figured he was trying to stop himself from punching Isaac square in the face.

"Oh I forgot to tell you, I transferred schools. I go here now." Isaac said.

"What? Why?" Otis asked, trying to keep his cool but failing.

"This school is much better than the one I went to and I just figured it's important to give my education a priority." Isaac said, really enjoying the way he was pushing Otis' buttons.

"Well that's great, welcome!" Aimee said. She had clearly not picked up on the tense vibe and was being her usual ditzy self. In any other situation Maeve would have found this very endearing but right now she didn't know how to react.

Before any of them could say anything, the bell rang.

"I guess I'll see you guys around." Isaac said with a smile before he left.

"Alright, what the fuck is happening?" Eric asked. He was always the one who said what was on everyone's mind.

"I hate this. Why can't he just back the fuck off?" Otis said. He wasn't really intending on saying the words out loud but he couldn't help himself. Things were finally where he wanted them to be with Maeve, they really didn't need this.

"You have nothing to worry about babe." Maeve said, pulling Otis to face her.

Otis was a little caught off guard by Maeve calling him babe because her usual term of endearment was dickhead and as much as he liked that, he had to admit this was a nice change of pace.

"I just know he's here to cause trouble because that's all he ever does." Otis said.

"It doesn't matter, he can't do anything. I know he's screwed with us in the past but that was before we were together." Maeve said, putting her hands on either side of Otis' face to get him to look into her eyes.

Otis just nodded. Maeve always had a calming effect on him. It didn't matter whether it was him panicking over a test or if the world was ending, Maeve would always know exactly what to say and do to make him feel like he would be okay.

"I don't like him and I have been through way too much trying to get you two together for him to come and wreck it now." Eric said.

"Wait a second, you have been through too much?" Maeve asked, cocking her eyebrow in amusement.

"Well yeah. Who do you think handled Otis when he got all mopey?! It was always me! And you know how he gets when he overthinks. It's a never ending nightmare and I handled that for you!" Eric said.

"Hey!" Otis exclaimed clearly offended by Eric coming for him like that.

"You did that for me? I thought you did that because he's your best friend." Maeve said.

"Well yeah that and also because I like you two together and it just made sense to make it happen, it was always only a matter of time." Eric said.

Maeve just smiled at Otis and he smiled back at her.

"Both of you are so whipped for each other, it's getting nauseating. I'm heading to class." Eric said, walking away.

"Yeah me too." Aimee said.

Maeve and Otis also decided to go for their health class, holding hands as they walked. Neither of them said anything but they knew that Isaac coming around was something they really didn't want or need.

Otis decided to put the thought of Isaac and all that he could ruin at the back of his mind. He was here with Maeve and that's all he'd ever wanted. But whenever Isaac was involved, things could never be simple.

"Hey guys, guess we're in the same health class." Isaac said, joining them at their table.

Maeve smiled politely while Otis rolled his eyes so hard Maeve was scared they were going to get stuck there.

"Alright class, you have to present in groups of three on sexually transmitted diseases. The presentation will be next week and needs to be delivered in groups of three." Mr. Hendricks said.

The class collectively let out a groan because there's nothing worse in the world than a group project.

"What are our groups?" A boy from the end of the class asked.

Mr. Hendricks looked around the class for a second and said, "your partners are whoever you're sitting with right now, you can start working on the presentation now."

Isaac, Otis and Maeve exchanged glanced and in that moment Otis knew his worst nightmare had just come true.

"Wow, that's perfect." Isaac said.

Otis didn't say anything; he just gave Isaac the dirtiest look he could muster.

"Maybe we should just discuss the project and get it over with?" Maeve asked, looking at Otis for approval.

"Sounds good to me." Isaac said.

Maeve turned to the both of them to start discussing the assignment because she knew it was best to just bite the bullet but during the twenty-minute discussion, Otis didn't say a single word. She tried to look at him and ask him questions but it was like he just wasn't there with her.

As soon as the class ended, Otis grabbed his stuff and left. Maeve ran out after him, not giving Isaac a chance to say anything.

"Hey, wait!" Maeve said, catching up to Otis and grabbing his hand.

Otis was on the verge of losing it because the last thing he wanted was to talk but then he looked at the concern on Maeve's face and took a deep breath. He had promised he wouldn't be an arsehole and he would be damned if Isaac found a way to bring it out of him.

"Look, I know this isn't ideal." Maeve said.

"Ideal?! This is my worst nightmare!" Otis said.

"I know, I don't like this either. I'll speak to Mr. Hendricks, see if he can pair us up with someone else." Maeve said.

Otis just nodded.

"Look, I get this is fucked up. But we're going to be fine." Maeve said.

"This is the guy who's been obsessed with you. He complete sabotaged us; we would've been together a lot earlier if it weren't for him. And now that we've finally worked out all our problems, he's here?" Otis said, he honestly couldn't believe this was happening right now.

"Otis, you have to trust me. This isn't going to work otherwise." Maeve said.

"I do, I'd trust you with my life, Maeve." Otis said, reaching out to hold Maeve's hand.

"Then what is the problem?" Maeve asked.

"The problem is he's obsessed with you and that he probably wants you back." Isaac said.

"Yeah well I don't want him. I want you." Maeve said, taking a step closer to Otis.

"I.. I just love you and it's taken so much for us to get here, I'm just protective of us that's all." Otis said, circling his arms around Maeve's waist.

"I love you too and I promise you that's all that matters. He can't get to us if we don't let him, okay?" Maeve asked, her arms wrapped firmly around Otis' neck.

"Okay." Otis said.

Maeve pulled Otis in for a short yet reassuring kiss. Otis wasn't convinced, he was still scared but he knew he shouldn't freak out and fuck things up himself. Sure Isaac was a threat but Maeve loved him and that was all he needed to face whatever life and Isaac decided to throw at him and Maeve.


	12. Chapter 12

Otis was doing everything in his power to appear unaffected by Isaac's presence. Of course it didn't help that he was literally everywhere Otis looked.

"Hey guys!" Isaac shouted from across the trailer park.

"Hey." Maeve said awkwardly, as she eyed Otis' reaction.

Even though what he really wanted to do was go over and punch Isaac's face, Otis resisted the urge and decided to be polite instead. "Hey." He said.

Maeve smiled her signature Otis smile as she grabbed onto his arm.

"I was not expecting that." Maeve said, as she and Otis began walking out of the park.

"Yeah well, I told you that I would get better at handling this, so I'm trying." Otis said, shrugging a little.

"And I really appreciate it." Maeve said, pulling Otis in for a quick kiss.

Both of them sighed as they pulled away, still feeling the same excitement they had felt when they had kissed for the very first time.

"I'm going to speak to Mr. Hendricks today, about changing our groups." Maeve said, as she and Otis approached the school.

"Yeah?" Otis asked.

"Yeah, I know you're okay with or trying to be okay with Isaac being here but I'm not in the mood to push it right now." Maeve said with a small laugh.

Otis wanted to tell her she didn't have to worry but he stopped himself because only he knew how much he felt like a ticking time bomb. Sure he was trying to do whatever it took to make things work with Maeve but that didn't mean he was suddenly okay with this situation. He didn't trust Isaac, not for a second. But he didn't want to go off on a rant about it to Maeve, so instead all he did was nod.

The rest of the day went off as usual. School was dull and Maeve and Otis didn't really get to hang out because she had plans with Aimee. Otis took the time off to just lay in bed and overthink, as he often did. He only came out of his room, when it was time to have dinner with his mom.

The dinner had mostly been spent in silence, the only words spoken being in relation to passing the different plates of food around the table.

"What is it darling?" Jean asked, finally.

"What do you mean?" Otis asked, confused by his mother's sudden concern.

"Something is bothering you." Jean said.

"No, it's nothing." Otis said, not wanting to talk about what was going on out of fearing of exploding.

"It is something, I can tell. You're very tense, even in the way you're sat. Tell me what's on your mind, is it about Maeve?" Jean asked.

Otis suddenly sat up straighter, now conscious of all that his posture had apparently given away. He was caught up in an internal argument, trying to decide whether or not to let his mother in. The usual answer would've been fuck no. But after everything that had happened over the past few months, Otis had promised himself that he would not be an arsehole, especially to his mother.

"Tell me darling, I promise we'll work it out." Jean said, trying to nudge Otis a little.

"Fine." Otis said, letting out a defeated sigh.

"Is it about Maeve?" Jean asked again.

"Yeah, well kind of. Her ex-boyfriend transferred to our school." Otis said.

"And you're feeling a little insecure about feelings reemerging?" Jean asked, the inner therapist in taking over before she could stop it.

"Not exactly." Otis said.

"Then what is it?" Jean asked.

"A while ago, I'd sent Maeve a voicemail, telling her how I felt and I'd told Isaac to tell her about it and instead he deleted the message." Otis said.

"And you're worried that he's here to pull something like that again?" Jean asked, already knowing the answer.

"Yeah." Otis said, feeling quite therapised.

"And how does Maeve feel about him being back?" Jean asked.

"I think she's a little annoyed but she's fine about it. She thinks me being upset about him being around means I don't trust her." Otis said, crossing his arms.

"Does it?" Jean asked.

"Does it what?" Otis asked.

"Does it mean that?" Jean asked.

"Of course not, I trust her." Otis said.

"Then why are you so upset about Isaac coming to Moordale?" Jean asked.

"Because it's him I don't trust! He's tried to sabotage things before and Maeve and I are finally at this place where we're happy and I don't want him to come and ruin that!" Otis said, getting a little annoyed.

"Darling, you do understand that he can't ruin something unless you let him right?" Jean asked.

"Yeah but what if he gets in Maeve's head again?" Otis asked.

"Then that means Maeve isn't sure about her feelings about you. But the fact that this is something you're worried about and she isn't, only means you are not sure about Maeve's feelings for you." Jean said.

Otis didn't say anything; he just moved used his fork to move around the food on his plate. He knew his mother was right, which is why it had struck a nerve. Maybe there were insecurities he had that he had not addressed.

"I know that your father and I never put forward the ideal relationship. I know what you've seen for the most part is a messy relationship and a messy marriage where the two people in it don't seem to know what they want. I know your dad being in and out of our lives has affected you, as it would anyone. But I also want you to know that people don't always run away, Otis. Relationships work out, but that only happens when you put the other person above your own insecurities. When you deal with your insecurities so that you can make the relationship work. Your father never did that, he never really knew himself, which is why I could never know him. Every person has insecurities darling, but by letting your fear of Maeve leaving you dictate how you behave, you're going to make her believe you don't really want her to stay." Jean said.

Otis didn't say anything, he just stared at his plate, taking in everything his mother had said.

Jean stood up from her place at the table and walked over to Otis. She wrapped her arms around him and gave him a kiss on the head. "You're a wonderful person, Otis. Maeve knows that. It's time you see it too. I'm always here if you want to talk more." She said, walking away to do the dishes.

Otis knew everything his mom had said was a hundred percent true. He spent most of the night thinking about everything that had been happening for the past few months. It was always so easy being able to deal with other people's problems during the sex clinic; it always felt like people rarely saw what was right in front of them. And in the process of running the clinic, Otis had somehow managed to hide his problems behind those of the people he helped but it was time for him to address his own shit.

The next day, Otis felt a lot lighter, finally facing some of his own demons. He felt closer to meaning it when he said he was over stuff with Isaac. He was glad because he had health class and needed to get through it without losing his mind.

"One of you guys asked me to do some shuffling with the groups for your STI presentation and I have decided to comply with that request." Mr. Hendricks said.

Maeve and Otis looked at each other with nervous smiles. They were all for taking the high road but if they got the chance to get away from Isaac, they would take it in a heartbeat.

Mr. Hendricks read out the list of new groups. "Then there's Isaac, Jackson and Maeve."

Otis looked like he was about to pop a vein after hearing the groupings but before Maeve could say anything reassuring, Mr. Hendricks continued listing the groups.

"The final group is Ola, Otis and Ruby. These are the final groupings and will not be changed, you can begin discussing in your new groups." Mr. Hendricks said, putting down the paper he had been reading from.

While the rest of the class had begun going into their new groups, Isaac, Jackson, Ola, Ruby, Maeve and Otis stood around staring at each other. All of them knew in that moment that this was going to be a fucking disaster.


	13. Chapter 13

A/N: Hey guys! I'm sorry for disappearing. Between work, my channel and every other responsibility that's seemed to have popped up out of the blue, I haven't really had any time to sit down and write. But I love writing and I'm going to make it a point to update every few days. I also want to start another sex education related story, maybe based on prompts from you guys. So if you have any, feel free to comment them or dm them to me. I really really appreciate you sticking with this story and me. Hope you're all safe, sending you all tons of love xx

Growing up, Otis had heard multiple times to never complain too much, because things could always be worse. But owing to his overactive imagination which had a tendency to create problems where none existed, Otis had grown up to be a complainer. Now, in retrospect he wished he'd paid heed to the advice of all those adults whose names he couldn't remember.

Otis had thought that nothing could be worse than Isaac transferring to their school, literally nothing. Obviously the universe had other plans, which included pairing Maeve with not only Isaac but also Jackson. It was like someone was creating a live version of Otis' worst nightmare while also making him present in front of his whole class right along side with his ex-girlfriend and the girl he lost his virginity to. This had to be some kind of cosmic joke, right?

"So you're Ola? We couldn't really meet during Otis' party. I'm Isaac." Isaac said, extending his hand.

Everyone shot Isaac a look because this was literally the worst time to be doing an ice breaking session.

"Hey, nice to meet you." Ola said, shaking his hand. She didn't want to be rude.

"If the two of you are done mingling, can we figure out how to fix this?" Maeve asked, speaking through gritted teeth.

"I don't really see the problem." Ruby said, while staring at her nails.

"Of course you don't, why would you?" Maeve asked, rolling her eyes. She was getting surprisingly worked up about this. It had taken her a while but Maeve was finally becoming okay with Ruby and Otis being friends but the idea of Otis having to expend extra time with both Ruby and Ola was bringing up a lot feelings for Maeve, which had clearly gone unresolved.

"Don't need to get snippy with me, cockbitter. I honestly don't care what weird shit you guys have going on. I honestly have no idea who half of you guys even are." Ruby said.

"Um.. So Jackson and Isaac are Maeve's ex-boyfriends and Ola and I used to date and.." Otis wanted to continue but stopped because of the death stares Maeve and Ruby gave him. Sure Ruby was finally becoming okay with being seen in public with Otis but she would die before she let anyone find out about them hooking up.

"Like I said, I don't know who these people are and I don't care. All I care about is passing this class with a good grade because I need it to up my average. And I don't think there's anyone who knows more about sex than you Otis, you're literally called sex kid. So can we please get to work? I refuse to work on this after school." Ruby said, staring at Otis. She was starting to look a little annoyed.

"I mean it's okay, I can ask Mr. Hendricks to put me in another group." Jackson said. He was willing to do anything to get out of this conversation.

"Yeah, me too. It shouldn't be a problem." Ola said, joining in.

"Thanks guys. Maybe we should all go, it might be easier for him to know who to put where." Otis said.

Ruby just rolled her eyes and took a seat in an empty chair she found and began looking through her phone. She meant it when she said didn't care but if she had a choice, she would want to be in a group with Otis. Things were kind of rough for her at home right now and talking to Otis always seemed to make her feel better. He didn't really seem to care about any of the other stuff that the boys she had dated cared about. He actually listened when she spoke and seemed to hear her even when she didn't.

"Mr. Hendricks, could we speak to you for a minute?" Jackson asked.

"Sure, what's going on?" Mr. Hendricks asked, eyeing all the students who had suddenly collected in front of him.

"We were wondering if you could shuffle our groups." Maeve said.

"Why? What's wrong?" Mr. Hendricks asked.

"Well..um.. some of us have some uncomfortable history between us and we think it might be best for the project if we didn't work together." Otis said. He was quite impressed with himself for putting what was essentially a bunch of high school drama in a way that made it sound like a mature disagreement.

"In that case, I definitely think all of you should work together." Mr. Hendricks said, rocking back and forth on his heels.

"Why?" Maeve asked, her voice louder than she intended.

"Because you can work through this, I'm sure when you actually get to working together, you'll realise your problems aren't as big as you think. And besides, I refuse to go through this grouping process again. It's time consuming and boring as all hell." Mr. Hendricks said.

"What if we do the shuffling process for you?" Otis asked.

"It's not just that, you have to complete this assignment this week because you have other assignments to do before the term ends. I'm sorry but there's nothing that can be done, you just have to make this work." Mr. Hendricks said.

Ola, Jackson, Maeve and Otis released a collective sigh and went back to Ruby and Isaac who had refused to join them.

"Let's just do this and get it over with." Jackson said.

"And who knows it might be fun." Isaac said, looking at Maeve.

Maeve looked over at Otis who was already starting to get pissed off. Isaac was doing all of this to push Otis' buttons and Otis no matter what he thought was horrible at hiding his anger.

"Come on, Otis." Ruby said, starting to pull Otis by the arm.

Maeve was a minute away from punching Ruby but stopped herself because Jackson tapped her on her shoulder. He could sense what was about to happen and decided to defuse the situation.

The period felt like it lasted for hours and that was probably because Maeve and Otis spent the entire time trying to steal glances at each other. Whenever one looked over, the other was already looking. And even though some of that stemmed from jealousy, it was mostly because they wished they could've been paired together so they could spend more time together. They were still in that stage in their relationship where they couldn't really keep their eyes off each other and wanted to spend every minute together.

As soon as the period got over, everyone seemed to rush out. Maeve got out first and waited for Otis by the door.

"So that was unexpected." Otis said, once he was with Maeve.

"It took everything I had to not scream at Hendricks." Maeve said.

"I know but maybe this is going to be okay." Otis said, looking over at Maeve and holding her hand as they walked down the hall.

"What has brought on the sudden optimism?" Maeve asked.

"I mean I hate this, I do. But this is just what things are and besides this time next week, it will be over. And if I can survive you and Isaac being in the same group for a week, I think everything else will suddenly feel a lot more bearable." Otis said.

"Is that right?" Maeve asked. They had now stopped by her locker and she was smiling her Otis smile.

"I mean, yeah. I don't want this to be a problem for us anymore and it kind of feels like the universe is going to keep throwing this in our face till we work it out anyway." Otis said.

Maeve just smiled and pulled Otis in for a kiss. It didn't end up lasting too long because both of them couldn't stop smiling. She loved Otis for his awkwardness but seeing his maturity always did things to Maeve. He was so different from all the men she had known in her life; he was responsible and present. He was what she had always needed, even in the moments when she didn't know it herself.

"Are you okay with this?" Otis asked, once they had pulled away.

Before Maeve could answer, they were interrupted by the buzzing of Otis' phone.

"Sorry." Otis said, pulling the phone out of his pocket.

"Who is it from?" Maeve asked.

"Ruby. She wants to work on the presentation after school." Otis said.

"I thought she said that was the one thing she refused to do." Maeve said, rolling her eyes.

"I guess she's changed her mind." Otis said, looking up from his phone.

"So is it going to be just the two of you?" Maeve asked. She hated the way her jealousy laced the question.

"Well no, Ola will be there too. "Otis said.

"Yeah. Makes sense." Maeve said.

"I know this isn't what you want." Otis said.

"You can say that again." Maeve said.

"But it's just a week." Otis said, searching Maeve's eyes for some sort of agreement.

"Yeah." Maeve said.

Otis smiled and pulled Maeve in for a hug. She so desperately wanted to be okay with this, completely nonchalant, the way she would've been in any other relationship. This was exactly why she didn't want to open up because this is what it always leads to, a lot of jealousy and insecurity. And Maeve had enough of that all on her own. But then she pulled away from Otis and looked into his eyes, which were filled with concern; she decided to at least pretend to be okay. The boy she loved, loved her back and that was enough for her to take on whatever cosmic joke the universe decided to throw at them.


	14. Chapter 14

A/N: Hey guys! I know I said I would update more often but my laptop stopped working like a week ago so now I'm using an old one, which is why I couldn't write last week. I'll try and be more consistent now hahah. Also, some of you have asked me about whether I plan on continuing this story and I 100% do! I'm not really sure how long this will be because I haven't figured out an ending yet, so I'm going to keep writing as long as it feels right. I promise to give it a proper ending whenever I know the time has come, so you guys don't have to worry x

It had been two days since the groups had been assigned and to Otis and Maeve's credit, they had managed not to kill anyone yet. They tried to make it a point to keep their group meetings as brief as possible while also being honest about how they were going.

The truth was Maeve wasn't really worried about Otis being with Ola given the fact that Ola was very clearly in love with Lilly. It was Ruby she was worried about. She had never seen Ruby being so publicly nice to anyone before. She almost seemed to gravitate towards Otis and Maeve absolutely hated it. She of course tried to be mature about it and not sucker punch Ruby every time she saw her and it was somehow getting a little easier.

It was the end of the school day and Maeve and Otis were standing by his locker as he put his books back into his bag.

"Do you want to grab a burger right now?" Maeve asked.

"I wish I could, I'm starving but I have a project meeting." Otis said.

"Oh." Maeve said, the disappointment clearly etched on her face.

Otis was about to speak but stopped because his phone began to buzz.

"What's up?" Maeve asked.

"Ola can't make our meeting." Otis said.

"So is it cancelled?" Maeve asked, getting excited.

"No, I don't think so." Otis said, while replying to Ola's meesage.

"So it's just you and Ruby then?" Maeve asked, trying her level best to hide her discomfort.

"Yeah..um.. I could cancel." Otis said.

"No, you don't need to." Maeve said, surprising even herself.

"Are you sure?" Otis asked.

"Yeah, I mean the project is due in a few days.." Maeve said, trying to convince herself more than Otis.

"Yeah and we're super behind schedule, I'm kind of surprised Ola would just not show up." Otis said.

"Hmm." Maeve hummed in response, trying to stop her imagination from getting the best of her.

"How about this? The project meeting is at my house, why don't you come over after? We can have dinner and watch a movie or something?" Otis asked.

Maeve thought for a moment. Her instincts were screaming at her to say no, to push Otis away. It was always better to run, right?

"Sure." Maeve said with a smile, somehow having fought off her strongest instincts.

Otis smiled and pulled her in for a kiss. He knew what she was thinking, all the words, the thoughts she refused to say out loud. He knew just telling her she had nothing to worry about was not going to help, so he decided to show her.

Maeve pulled away with a smile on her face. She loved Otis and she knew it every time her heart threatened to explode out of her chest whenever he was around. He was the best thing that had ever happened to her. She knew that sounded super cliché and cheesy but she also knew it was completely true. She always wanted him to be with her, which was why she had to let him go and trust that he loved her just as much.

Otis walked Maeve home and then headed back to his own house for his meeting. As she walked towards her trailer, Maeve saw Isaac waiting for her by her door. She was surprised to see him because he hadn't come to school that day.

"Why weren't you at school today?" Maeve asked.

"I just didn't feel up to it." Isaac said.

"What's going on?" Maeve asked.

"Just family stuff." Isaac said.

Maeve could sense he didn't really feel like talking about it much. "If you ever want to talk to me about it, you can." She said with a small smile.

"How are things with the project? " Isaac asked, changing the subject.

"They're okay, Jackson and I did some research at school today, so we should be fine." Maeve said.

"So I didn't completely fuck everything up by not showing up?" Isaac asked.

"No, you didn't. Which is surprising since this assignment much like the rest of world is dependent completely on you." Maeve said sarcastically.

"Of course it is, I'm shocked you guys survived a day without me." Isaac said.

Maeve rolled her eyes and began climbing the stairs of her trailer.

"Joe wants to look for our parents." Isaac said suddenly.

"What?" Maeve asked, turning around.

"Yeah, he came to me today saying we need to look for them." Isaac said.

"Why?" Maeve asked.

"He didn't say why but I think it's because we're having trouble getting by and he isn't sure how long we're going to be able to manage without them." Isaac said.

"Do you want him to find them?" Maeve asked, sitting down on her steps and putting her bag beside her.

"You know how it is. A part of me does and I hate that part of me, the part that will always want them around and want a normal family. But the rational part of me knows that they can give me nothing but pain." Isaac said.

"I know, I'm sorry." Maeve said.

"Yeah well what are you going to do?" Isaac asked.

"If it's money problems, I can help Joe get a job. I could talk to the manager at the Pretzel place." Maeve said. She wasn't always Isaac's biggest fan but she knew what it felt like to be in his place.

"That would actually be amazing, thank you so much!" Isaac said, putting his hand on Maeve's.

Maeve looked down at the their hands and pulled away. She didn't like where things were heading. She never truly believed Isaac was any kind of threat to her relationship with Otis, she thought he actually transferred schools because Moordale was better than his old school. And maybe that was still true but the vibe she was getting from him wasn't platonic at all. She could sense he was trying to pull something.

"I'm going to go." Maeve said picking up her things.

"Maeve! I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable." Isaac said.

"You know that I'm dating Otis, right? I love him and as much as I want to us to be friends and for their to be no drama, I will not let anything hurt my relationship with him." Maeve said, suddenly getting a little angry.

"I would never try and come between you two." Isaac said.

"How can you say that with a straight face?" Maeve asked.

"What do you mean?" Isaac asked.

"You literally lied to my face about Otis and deleted his message, just to make sure he and I couldn't be together. How do you expect me to believe that you would never do anything to come between us?" Maeve asked.

"Look, Maeve I screwed up." Isaac said, moving closer to Maeve.

"I forgave you back then, I won't do it again. Don't try and pull anything." Maeve said as she walked into her trailer, slamming the door behind her.

Isaac just waited outside her trailer for a while. He still had feelings for Maeve; he couldn't imagine a world where he wouldn't. He had no idea why she was with Otis, someone who would never understand the kind of things she had been through, the kind of things she had seen. Maeve deserved someone who knew how to protect her and Isaac believed more than anything that that someone was him.


	15. Chapter 15

Isaac had not stopped thinking about Maeve, he never really did. All he wanted was to be able to be with her. He always thought Otis had blinded her with his bs but he never really understood Maeve; not the way Isaac did anyway. Isaac loved her for who she was, including her past.

The next day, Isaac decided to go and speak to Otis, he knew it was time.

"Hey Otis." Isaac said.

"Hey Isaac." Otis said, looking visibly surprised at being approached by Isaac.

"I just wanted to clear the air between us." Isaac said.

"Alright.." Otis said.

"I know what I did was fucked up and I'm sorry. I shouldn't have deleted that message, you deserved your shot at being able to tell Maeve how you felt." Isaac said.

"Thank you for your apology." Otis said, not really knowing how to react.

"I want you to know that I want nothing but the best for you and Maeve. " Isaac said.

"That's nice of you." Otis said, growing increasingly awkward.

"Yeah and please tell that to Maeve too, I know she's upset about yesterday." Isaac said.

"What happened yesterday?" Otis asked.

"Oh she didn't tell you?" Isaac asked.

"No.." Otis said.

"Oh it's no big deal. Maeve offered to help my brother get a job because we're having money troubles. It was very nice of her. I was very touched." Isaac said.

"Okay, but why was she upset?" Otis asked.

"I.. um.. Just held her hand as a thank you and maybe she thought that meant something more? I'm not sure. But that was part of why I wanted to clear the air with you, you know? I'm not going after her or anything." Isaac said.

Otis was one second away from punching Isaac's face in. He knew what Isaac was doing but he couldn't help the pure unadulterated rage flowing through him. But he'd promised not to be an impulsive arsehole like his father so he decided to take a deep breath to calm himself.

"Look Isaac, I'll be honest with you. I don't trust you and quite frankly I don't like you. I know what you're doing and I would suggest backing the fuck away from me right now. " Otis said.

"Wow, come on, Otis. Don't take this the wrong way, I'm just trying to make things right." Isaac said.

"You are but not for Maeve and me but for yourself. Let me make something very clear to you, you try anything with Maeve and I will kick your ass. I mean that." Otis said, slamming the door of his locker and walking away.

Otis had no idea how he had managed to walk away from Isaac without killing him but he'd done it. He was still super angry though, He hated the fact that Maeve hadn't told him anything about this despite them being together for most of last night. He knew Isaac was trying to fuck with them but Maeve not communicating with him was literally the worst thing she could do right now. He knew he needed to speak to her but decided to talk to her after school, once he had cooled off.

The day felt a lot longer than usual for Otis, all her did was spend the day looking at the clock waiting for the day to end. Today was the only day Maeve and he had no classes together. He'd thought about texting her, asking her to talk after school but he figured she'd get worried reading a cryptic text like that. So he decided to wait for her by her locker.

"Hey." Maeve said, walking towards Otis.

"Hey." Otis said, holding onto the straps of his bag.

Maeve smiled her signature Otis smile and pecked him on the cheek. When she pulled away, she could sense that something was off with Otis.

"What's wrong?" Maeve asked.

Otis was silent for a second or two, he wanted to be careful with the words he chose. Just as he was about to speak, Aimee appearing next to Maeve interrupted him.

"Hey guys!" Aimee said.

"Hey Aimes." Maeve said.

"Are you ready to go?" Aimee asked.

"Where?" Maeve asked.

"You promised to bake with me today." Aimee said.

"I did?" Maeve asked.

"Yeah, you told me to only bake when I'm with you after I set the fire alarm off the last time." Aimee said.

"Oh yeah, um.. okay I'll meet you by the entrance in two?" Maeve asked.

"Sure. Bye Otis." Aimee said walking away.

"Bye." Otis said.

"Are you okay?" Maeve asked, turning to Otis once Aimee was gone.

"Um.." Otis began but didn't know what to say.

"What's going on?" Maeve asked.

"We need to talk but properly not like this in the middle of the hall." Otis said.

"Otis, you need to tell me what's going on because you're freaking me out a little." Maeve said.

"Nothing is going on, I just want to talk to you." Otis said.

"Then why can't you just say what it's about?" Maeve asked.

"Because this needs to be a proper conversation." Otis said.

"Are you breaking up with me?" Maeve asked, her eyes glistening with tears.

"What? No! Not at all." Otis said, wrapping his arms around Maeve.

Maeve didn't say anything; she just put her head on Otis' chest.

"Why would you even think that?" Otis asked, tightening his arms around her.

"Because you're being weird and cryptic." Maeve said.

"I'm sorry, I love you." Otis said, pulling away.

"I love you too." Maeve said.

Otis pulled Maeve in for a quick kiss. He was upset about Maeve not telling him about Isaac but he never wanted to worry her.

"How about I come over after meeting Aimee and then we talk?" Maeve asked, once they pulled away.

"Sounds good, have fun." Otis said, giving her another kiss before she left.

Otis spent his bike ride home thinking about their situation with Isaac and how Maeve and he never seemed to escape him. Otis was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't even notice his mother in the kitchen.

"Otis!" Jean said.

"Huh? Oh hi mom." Otis said.

"I called out to you a couple of times, what's going on?" Jean asked.

"Nothing." Otis said.

"That's not true, come here. Tell me what's going on." Jean said.

Otis wasn't sure he was ready to have a conversation with his mother about this right now. But he knew he needed to talk to someone and talking to her last time did help so he decided to give in and join her at the table.

"Isaac made a bit of a pass at Maeve." Otis said.

"What?" Jean asked.

"Apparently he tried holding her hand after she offered to help his brother? I'm not even sure that counts as anything." Otis said.

"Then why do you seem so upset?" Jean asked.

"Because Maeve wasn't the one to tell me." Otis said.

"Who told you?" Jean asked.

"Isaac." Otis said.

"What did he say?" Jean asked.

"He told me he wanted to clear the air, that he wanted to nothing but the best for Maeve and I. He wanted to make sure I knew he wasn't coming after her." Otis said.

"What did you say?" Jean asked.

"I told him I didn't trust him and that I would kick his ass if he came near Maeve." Otis said.

"Good." Jean said.

"Wait what? Isn't this supposed to be a violence isn't the answer parenting moment?" Otis asked.

"Well maybe if this was an after school special but it isn't so I'll be honest with you. Isaac clearly isn't as clean as he wants you to believe. He's trying to create miscommunication between you and Maeve and I'm glad you told him to beat it." Jean said.

"Thanks mom." Otis said with a smile.

"We should probably talk about why him holding her hand felt so threatening to you." Jean said, beginning her unsolicited therapy session.

"Mom! No! Can't we leave it at you being happy I told him I would kick his ass?" Otis asked.

"No because that isn't the problem here." Jean said.

"Ugh." Otis said, regretting talking to his mom.

"Have you spoken to Maeve about this?" Jean asked, ignoring her son's protests.

"No, I tried to but couldn't." Otis said.

"Why?" Jean asked.

"She had plans with Aimee. She actually thought I was going to break up with her when I asked to talk." Otis said.

"Why do you think that is?" Jean asked.

"Mom. Stop!" Otis said, rolling eyes.

"Come on, answer the question." Jean said.

"Because she's insecure about our relationship?" Otis said, asking more than telling her.

"She's insecure about your stance in the relationship." Jean said.

"But I haven't said anything at all." Otis said.

"You don't have to say it for her to hear it." Jean said.

Otis thought about the words his mother had just spoken, they'd hit him like a ton of bricks. He wasn't even sure why but it felt like a realization had dawned upon him.

"Do you think you've been so worried about her running that you've always kept an out for yourself to cope with it?" Jean asked.

"What do you mean?" Otis asked.

"You keep thinking about ways she could leave so that you're somehow prepared." Jean said.

"Mom.. I.." Otis began but didn't know what to say.

"She isn't your father." Jean said.

"I know." Otis said.

"You get so caught up in worrying, you forget to be present with her." Jean said.

"Yeah but it's not like I'm worrying about nothing. This guy has actively been going after her, of course it bothers me." Otis said.

"It will bother you and to an extent it should too, it would be weird if it didn't. But if it bothers you to the point that it makes you question Maeve, then you have to rethink what's going on." Jean said.

"Why didn't she tell me?" Otis asked.

"I don't know for sure but my guess is, it was because she was worried about how you would react." Jean said.

"Yeah well not telling me made it worse." Otis said.

"I know and you should tell her that when you speak to her. But Otis?" Jean said.

"Yeah." Otis said.

"Not everyone cheats. Not every relationship is a disaster. The outcome of relationships doesn't always get determined by the presence or absence of a third person." Jean said.

"I know." Otis said.

"Do you? I know the relationship between your dad and I has probably shaped a lot of how you view love and relationships. And if I'm being completely honest neither of our dating histories since have set very good examples for healthy relationships but they do exist. And yeah people do cheat, it happens and it breaks relationships. But what is the point of ruining something you love because of the anticipation that something might go wrong?" Jean asked.

"I know you're right but.." Otis said.

"I think you should invite her over for dinner with us on Saturday." Jean said.

"What? Why?" Otis asked, surprised by the sudden change in speed.

"Because I want to meet her and because meeting the parents is a sign of commitment. What she needs from you right now is to know you're in this with her and you need the same from her too." Jean said.

Otis thought for a moment and then said," That's actually a good idea. I'll ask her based on how things go tonight when she comes over. Thanks mom!"

"No worries, darling." Jean said, kissing Otis on the forehead and going to her room.

Otis was still nervous about speaking to Maeve but he was a lot more open to hearing her side of things. He knew he owed her that, if he wanted honest communication then she deserved the same in return too. He was fast beginning to realise that much like Maeve his past made him want to run too.


	16. Chapter 16

Maeve hadn't been able to focus on the project meeting for one second. All she could think about was what Otis was going to say. Sure he had told her he didn't want to break up with her but what if he had just said that to calm her down? She had been feeling weird about how things went down with Isaac anyway and she wanted to tell Otis but given how pissed off he already seemed, she decided against it.

"Hey." Isaac said, coming up to Maeve at the end of the session.

"Hey." Maeve said, trying to sound as curt as possible.

"I wanted to apologise for making you uncomfortable. That was never my intension." Isaac said.

Maeve just nodded at him in acknowledgement; she really didn't feel like accepting his apology.

"Also I wanted to say how much I appreciate you not telling Otis about it." Isaac said.

"What makes you think I didn't tell Otis?" Maeve asked, trying to reveal as little as possible.

"He seemed very surprised and confused when I went to apologise to him for that. To be fair, the surprise turned into what seemed like blinding rage pretty fast." Isaac.

It felt like all the dots had suddenly connected for Maeve. Otis wasn't trying to break up with her; he was trying to tell her off for keeping the Isaac thing a secret. Or at least that's what Maeve hoped was going on because if Otis decided to break up with her over her non existent feels for Isaac, she wasn't sure she would be able to take it. She hated that things had come to this and knew it was all because of Isaac.ß

"WHY THE FUCK DID YOU DO THAT?!" Maeve screamed. She was starting to see red.

"Why are you so upset, I thought you would be happy." Isaac said.

"Why the fuck would I be happy?!" Maeve asked, it was taking all her self-control to not punch Isaac's face.

"Well because you keep talking about how much you love and respect Otis and I figured you would want me to apologise for what you deemed to be inappropriate behaviour." Isaac said.

"First of all, what the fuck does behaviour I deemed to inappropriate mean?! You know exactly what you were trying to do and now that it didn't work you're trying to start more shit." Maeve said.

"Why do you keep thinking I'm against you? I honestly feel so hurt by that. All I'm trying to do is be there for you because I understand you and your life. And I know that's something you try to deny to yourself and me but you know it's true. You've never had someone look out for you and whenever someone tries to, you push them away. You've done it all your life and you're doing it now. I get that you're with Otis, I may not like it but I accept it. I apologised to both you and him to show how much I respect what you have but all either of you have done is push me away. I get I fucked things up before but are you going to let that define how you see me for the rest of my life?" Isaac asked, his voice cracking a little as he spoke.

Maeve calmed down a little listening to Isaac's speech. She was still mad at him but she wasn't sure if she wanted to scream at him when he was being vulnerable like this.

"Isaac, I don't need you to protect me. I can appreciate the sentiment but just because we've had similar lives doesn't give you the right to disrespect all my boundaries. I know what I want and even if I didn't, what's best for me was never for you to decide." Maeve said, walking away from Isaac.

Isaac watched Maeve as she walked away from him. It hurt to see her turn him down like that but he knew it was just the walls she had taken years to build. Deep down, Isaac knew that Maeve still felt something for him; she was just suppressing it because she was with Otis. Isaac knew that the more time Maeve spent with him, the more she could see how much they belonged together. And for his chance at a forever with Maeve, Isaac was willing to work through this little bump in their road.

Maeve rushed to Otis, she knew she had to clear the air as soon as possible. She practically ran the entire way and pounded on Otis' door as if she wanted to break it down.

"Hey, is everything okay?" Otis asked, opening the door.

"Hey." Maeve said, pulling Otis in for a kiss. She didn't know why but she almost felt like she was worried it might be the last chance she had to kiss him.

"Wow. What was that for? Not that I'm complaining, I'm just curious." Otis said breathlessly, once they had pulled away from the kiss.

"I'm sorry." Maeve said.

"For what?" Otis asked.

"For not telling you about Isaac trying to hold my hand. I know it isn't the biggest deal in the world but I knew it would upset you and that's why I kept it from you. It wasn't because there's anything between him and I. I just wanted to protect you and us but I get why you would be upset." Maeve said, knowing she needed to get her side out of the situation out before Otis misunderstood things further.

Otis took a second to process what Maeve had said. He wasn't expecting her to know what was going on.

"How did you know I knew about it?" Otis asked.

"Isaac told me he apologised to you. What did he say?" Maeve asked.

"He told me he didn't mean for it to seem like he was hitting on you because he wasn't but he was still sorry." Otis said.

"What did you say?" Maeve asked.

"I told him I would kick his ass if he came near you." Otis said.

"You did what?" Maeve asked, a huge smile taking over her face.

"I told him I would kick his ass, why do you look so amused?" Otis asked.

"Because you are literally the least confrontational person I have ever met." Maeve said.

"Yeah well, I'm confrontational when it comes to you. That sounds weird and a lot like toxic masculinity. I mean I would want to protect you. Not that you need protection but that I would want to fight for you.." Otis rambled, not really sure of what he wanted to say anymore.

Maeve shut him up with a kiss because she knew he wouldn't stop until she made him. It was also because she loved him with every single beat of her heart and couldn't believe someone as kind and beautiful as Otis had fallen for her too.

"I love you." Maeve said, pulling away from Otis.

"I love you too." Otis said, leaning his forehead against Maeve's.

"I'm sorry for not telling you, it's not because I don't trust you. I do with everything I have and I want you to trust me too. I promise I'll tell you everything no matter how annoying. And I'm going to start now. So after the meeting, Isaac came up to me to tell me he apologised to you which was just to start shit up again but anyway he gave me a whole speech about how he was only looking out for me, how he respects us and how he wants nothing but the best for me because he understands my life. He also went off about how what he did with the message shouldn't define how I see him." Maeve said.

"What did you say?" Otis asked.

"I told him I know what I want and even if I didn't what I want wasn't for him to decide." Maeve said.

"What do you want?" Otis asked.

"You. Always." Maeve said.

Otis smiled and gave Maeve a small peck on her lips.

"Does it bother you that I don't understand your past the way he does?" Otis asked, suddenly feeling exposed having laid his insecurities out in front of Maeve.

"No, because you understand me way better than he ever could. You actually listen to what I have to say and what I want, while he just tells me what I want. I'm sorry if I ever made you feel like you didn't understand me because you do, better than I understand myself most of the time." Maeve said, searching Otis' eyes to see if she had gotten through to him.

"I think it's just because of how much he talks about it, how much he tries to prove to me that he knows you and a part of me knows that's not true but I can't help it sometimes. It's taken a lot for us to get here and for most of that time, I never felt that someone like you could ever fall for someone like me and that wasn't because of anything you said or did, it was all me." Otis said.

Maeve just looked at Otis in disbelief; she couldn't for the life of her understand why Otis would be worried. She knew they were different, both in terms of who they were as people but also the kind of people they hung out with but that's what made it so much better. She knew he was different from what she had known all her life and that's why she loved him.

"You just don't see yourself the way I do and I hate it. You're such a wonderful person Otis, you're the kindest person I know and I love that you're different. I love that your experiences have been completely different from mine because your perspective on life makes me see things I never would have earlier. Isaac is hurt because he's never known anything other than the kind of pain and abandonment he and I have seen but I don't want that anymore. I don't want to be bitter because I didn't let myself experience anything else. You're my something else, Otis. Knowing you, being with you is what's changed me." Maeve said, hoping her words could show Otis his truth.

"Thank you for seeing me." Otis said.

"Thank you for seeing me too." Maeve said, hugging Otis.

They stood like that for a while, just holding each other. All the anxiety and what ifs from their conversation had drained them out. They needed some time to just be together without having to do anything or worry about the world. They just wanted to have the chance to stay close to what felt safe and real, to have feel the warmth they could only find in each other.


	17. Chapter 17

A/N: Hey guys! I want to start by saying how much I appreciate the love and support you've shown this story, it means the absolute world to me! I know I promised not to disappear but inspiration has been hard to find. I kind of have an idea of where the next few chapters are going to lead Otis and Maeve so hopefully if time and life permit, updates will be more frequent. I hope you guys are well and being kind to yourselves x Hope you like this chapter!

Things between Otis and Maeve were a lot better. They had gone back to prioritising spending time together over everything else. They'd been spending every free minute they had together and things finally felt like they were getting back to normal.

Both Maeve and Otis had a meeting for their presentations but decided to hang out at Otis' place right after. Otis had gotten done first and headed home to wait for Maeve there.

"Hey, how was your meeting?" Otis asked, opening the door for Maeve and greeting her with a question and a kiss.

"Boring as all hell, yours?" Maeve asked, walking in.

"Pretty much the same. How was Isaac?" Otis asked.

Maeve took a second to answer the question. Even though Otis and she had gotten a lot better at communicating when it came to Isaac, it was still a touchy subject.

"He spent the session staring at me. He then tried talking to me at the end of it." Maeve said, deciding to be honest.

"What did he say?" Otis asked.

"Just the same old speech about how he wanted to talk to me and didn't want to leave things on this note." Maeve said.

"And what did you say?" Otis asked, trying to appear as neutral as possible on the topic.

"I told him to fuck off and left." Maeve said.

"That's my girl!" Otis said, the excitement clearly etched on his face.

Maeve smiled her signature Otis smile, her heart swelling at Otis calling her his girl. They'd been together for a bit now but Maeve knew she would never tire of hearing the words.

"Let me make you a sandwich." Otis said, pulling Maeve into the kitchen.

"That's really sweet but you don't have to." Maeve said, letting Otis lead her.

"I do, I can tell you're very hungry and you've had a long meeting. I'll make you a ham sandwich, is that okay?" Otis asked.

"Umm hmm.." Maeve said, pulling in Otis for a quick kiss.

Things had been progressing quite well between Otis and Maeve but they hadn't had sex yet. Every time they got close to taking the next step, it would feel like one of them pulled away but they never talked about it. Maybe because both of them were afraid of finding out why the other always stopped things before they went all the way.

Maeve decided to push all her doubts aside and focus on her sandwich.

"Do you like it?" Otis asked nervously as he took a seat next to Maeve at the table.

"I love it, thank you for making it for me." Maeve said.

Otis just smiled, happy to see Maeve seemingly content with her sandwich.

Maeve really was hungrier than she had realised and basically inhaled her sandwich.

"You have some mustard at on your face." Otis said, pointing at the drop of mustard next to Maeve's lip.

"Is it gone?" Maeve asked, touching the wrong side of her mouth.

"Nah other side." Otis said.

"Now?" Maeve asked, still not getting the mustard.

Otis reached across the table to wipe the mustard off himself. What was supposed to just be a moment of Otis being annoyed at Maeve turned into something charged with an undeniable amount of sexual tension. Before either of them realised, they were stumbling into Otis' room.

Maeve decided to take charge of the situation, pushing Otis onto his bed. Otis really had no idea what to do except to look up at Maeve in complete awe. It was still hard for him to believe any of this was happening. Otis didn't have much time to reflect on that though, because before he knew it Maeve's lips were on his, kissing him with the kind of passion she never had before.

Both of them knew this was different than all the times they had gotten physical, it was like something had taken over them and they had finally gotten tired of waiting. Maeve straddled Otis and looked into his eyes, trying to search them for any sense of doubt but all she could find was an immense amount of adoration and nervousness.

Maeve knew she would have to take the lead in this situation and began pulling her top off. Just as she threw her top off of Otis' bed, she was interrupted by the sound of the door being swung open.

"Otis darling!" Jean said, absentmindedly walking into the room.

"Mom!" Otis screamed, covering his chest.

Jean just stood there for a second trying to understand what the fuck was going on.

"Mom!" Otis shouted again.

"Oh yeah, I'm so sorry!" Jean said, rushing out the door.

"Oh my god. Oh my god!" Maeve said, getting off Otis and sitting down next to him.

"I'm so sorry, I don't know why my mom doesn't understand the concept of knocking." Otis said, still in shock.

"I can't believe that just happened. The first time your mom meets me was I'm half naked and straddling her son. Fuck my life." Maeve said.

"Oh yeah that reminds me, she wants us to have dinner together this Saturday." Otis said.

Maeve shot Otis the dirtiest look she could muster.

"Look I'm sorry okay! I get that this isn't the best time but I've been meaning to tell you and this felt like a good enough Segway." Otis said.

"Otis…" Maeve said, the anger evident in his voice.

"This isn't that bad, okay? I mean is it embarrassing, yes! Does it make me want to move to a remote island? Yes. But my mom is a sex therapist, she honestly doesn't get bothered by this kind of stuff. She's probably going to block this out like you and I will." Otis said.

"Yeah well, I'm bothered by this and it's weird that you aren't." Maeve said.

"Of course I am! But I'm trying to be reassuring here." Otis said.

"You can't be reassuring in a situation like this, Otis. This is a nightmare. I thought me running out while meeting Jackson's parents was the worst way of meeting your boyfriend's parents for the first time but I'm clearly the gift that keeps on giving." Maeve said.

"Look, this is a mess. And basically my worst nightmare but she's going to love you. We can fix this on Saturday." Otis said.

"How will we fix this on Saturday? I'm not even sure I'll be able to look her in the eye." Maeve said.

"Of course you'll be able to and besides, I'm the one she's going to direct all her ridiculously inappropriate questions at, so you have nothing to worry about." Otis said.

"No she won't. You're her little boy and she's going to see me as the leather jacket wearing bad girl that's trying to corrupt her innocent baby boy." Maeve said.

Otis visibly cringed at Maeve's words. There was something very unsettling about everything she had just said.

"Okay, I get that was bad but I'm panicking, okay?" Maeve asked.

"Everything is fine, I promise. Let's just go down and clear it up with her." Otis said.

"Do we have to?" Maeve asked.

"Yes because the alternative is her thinking we're having sex even though she walked in on us." Otis said.

"Yeah okay we're going." Maeve said.

Maeve and Otis' walk down to the kitchen was literally the slowest walk in the history of the world.

"Mom?" Otis asked, walking into the kitchen.

"Oh um.. hi darling, I'm so sorry about that." Jean said.

"It's okay. I want to officially introduce you to my girlfriend, Maeve." Otis said.

"Hi Mrs. Milburn. I'm sorry about earlier.." Maeve said, extending her hand.

"You have nothing to be sorry about and call me Jean." Jean said, shaking maeve's hand

Maeve smiled awkward, relieved by how nice Jean was being about the whole situation.

"I hope you know that I'm not upset or anything. I want you both to know that it's completely normal for people your age to explore physical intimacy, it's healthy even." Jean said, not being able to stop herself.

"Mom!" Otis shouted, feeling like his ears were bleeding.

Maeve made it a point to look anywhere except at Jean. She had been in her share of awkward situations but this was by far the weirdest.

"I don't mean anything bad by that, I just want you to know that I understand and there's not judgment form me." Jean said, awkwardly.

Otis just nodded in response all the while wishing the ground would open up and swallow him whole.

"I don't know if Otis told you but I would love to have dinner with you Maeve. You're clearly very important to Otis and I would like to get to know you better." Jean said.

"He did mention it, I would love to. Thanks for inviting me, Mrs. Milburn. I mean Jean!" Maeve said, starting to feel a little more comfortable.

"Perfect, I'll see you Saturday then. I'm going to let you two have some time to yourself. It was lovely meeting you, Maeve!" Jean said, walking out of the kitchen.

"You too, Jean." Maeve awkwardly called out after her.

"Well, that's definitely a moment I'm suppressing and blocking out for forever." Otis said.

Maeve couldn't help but laugh.

"Let's go for a walk or something, I need some air." Maeve said, grabbing Otis' hand.

"That sounds good, we could ice cream." Otis said, his eyes lighting up as he said the words.

Maeve felt her heart race a little seeing Otis look so happy. She looked around to make sure there was no sign of Jean and pulled him in for a quick kiss. A part of her was worried about why she and Otis could never take their relationship to the next step, why there was always something in their way. She loved him, she knew that for sure. But the thought that Otis might not want her the way she wanted him was beginning to scare the shit out of Maeve.


	18. Chapter 18

Maeve had been understandably horrified since Jean had walked in on her and Otis. She wasn't sure how she was supposed to behave around Jean, at their dinner this weekend. Maeve decided she needed some advice from someone who had nothing to do with the situation, which is why she automatically turned to Aimee. In her own way, Aimee always knew what to say.

"So wait, she walked in while you guys were doing it?" Aimee asked, taking a bite of ice cream from the pint Maeve had just passed her.

"Well we weren't actually doing it, we were just making out." Maeve said.

"Did you guys do it after she left?" Aimee asked, with a glint of mischief in her eyes at the question she just asked.

"Aimee! No of course not, we were mortified. Sex was the last thing on our minds." Maeve said.

"Have you guys done it?" Aimee asked.

"Not yet." Maeve said.

"Do you think if Jean hadn't walked in, you guys would've gone through with it?" Aimee asked.

"I think so, I'm not sure." Maeve said, taking the ice cream from Aimee as a means of distracting herself.

"Why aren't you sure, do you not want to?" Aimee asked.

"I do, of course I do. I love Otis." Maeve said.

"So what's the problem?" Aimee asked.

"I'm not sure he wants to." Maeve said, staring at the pint of ice cream in her lap.

"Did he say something?" Aimee asked.

"No, he just always pulls away whenever things start escalating and when he doesn't, I do." Maeve said.

"Maybe he's just nervous. You guys have been back and forth so many times, it's not going to be like having sex with just anyone, it's going to mean so much more." Aimee said.

"Yeah, you're right. But sometimes I wonder if he even wants me in that way." Maeve said.

"He'd be crazy to not want you, you're hot as fuck. And besides, I've seen the way he looks at you, he's practically drools every time you walk into school with your leather jacket on. I don't think that's the problem." Aimee said.

"I don't know Aimes." Maeve said.

"Why do you pull away?" Aimee asked.

"Because of what you said. It's not going to be like sex with just anyone, I don't think I have ever loved anyone as much as I love him and that scares the living shit out of me. And even though I want to, so badly, us taking that step will mean me giving one more part of myself to him. And I know he loves and respects me and he takes me letting him in very seriously but what if it all falls apart after that? What the fuck am I supposed to do then?" Maeve asked.

"I get it but if you keep holding yourself back, this is bound to fall apart. And besides, if you're open with him and trust him and things don't work out, you know you did everything you could but it just wasn't meant to be. But if you keep pulling away from him, he's going to end up wondering if you want him and everything will turn to shit." Aimee said, taking a bite of her ice cream with such nonchalance that it was hard for Maeve to believe she was the same person who'd given her such mature and sound advice.

"You're right." Maeve said.

"And besides, if you're feeling a little frustrated, you don't really need Otis to help you feel better. Otis actually gives very good advice about how much we can do without guys, you should actually ask him." Aimee said.

Maeve just stared at Aimee in awe before bursting out laughing.

"What? I'm serious. Otis gave me some very good advice about.. self care and you should take his advice." Aimee said, taking another bite of her ice cream, still completely unaware.

"I love you." Maeve said, giving Aimee a hug.

"I love you too." Aimee said, hugging Maeve back.

"Jean wants me to come over for dinner this weekend." Maeve said, once she'd pulled away from Aimee.

"Oh wow, that's a big step. How do you feel about that?" Aimee asked.

"Scared. I'm not good with parents and after what she saw yesterday, I'm not sure I could've made a worse impression." Maeve said.

"To be fair, Jean is a sex therapist, dealing with people's sex lives is her job. I don't think she would be that bothered by it." Aimee said.

"Yeah but it's different when it's her son. Otis has been such an innocent guy that I hope she doesn't think I'm corrupting her son or something." Maeve said.

"Yeah I don't think she thinks that. You try to be all badass but you're a little bean and everyone can see that no matter how much you want to believe otherwise. She'll see how nice and kind you are at dinner and all her fears and concerns will be wiped away." Aimee said with a smile.

"Thanks babe." Maeve said, smiling back at Aimee.

"You're welcome, can we watch 10 Things I Hate About You?" Aimee asked.

"Sure." Maeve said with a sigh. They'd watched that movie so many times that at this point Maeve had stopped protesting because she knew there was no point. Aimee would show her, her puppy dog eyes and Maeve would give in anyway so why waste time.

Maeve felt a lot better after speaking to Aimee. She knew she had to talk to Otis about the doubts she was having but she had to get her timing right. She didn't want to send Otis into a spiral of freaking out.

Otis walked into school earlier than usual. He was supposed to meet Ruby and Ola in the field to discuss their project. Otis couldn't believe Mr. Hendricks had decided to delay their presentation by two weeks because he wanted to take a week off to go camping. As Otis walked onto the field, he saw Ruby sitting on one of the benches.

"Hey." Otis said, taking a seat next to Ruby.

"Hey." Ruby said, a tinge of sadness in her voice seeping through.

"What's wrong?" Otis asked.

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked.

"You seem like you've been crying." Otis said.

"What?!" Ruby asked, taking out a mirror to make sure her mascara was intact. She spent the next minute staring at her reflection and only put down the mirror when she was satisfied. "That's such a rude thing to say, Otis. Especially when I look this good." She said, pointing at her face.

"Sorry, I didn't mean it like that. I'm just worried about you." Otis said.

"Why are you worried?" Ruby asked.

"Because we're friends and you look upset and I want to make sure you're okay." Otis said.

Ruby's features softened at Otis' words. She wasn't used to having people in her life care for her like that.

"That's really sweet and I'm not really sure how to react to that if I'm being honest." Ruby said, fiddling with her fingers.

"Why?" Otis asked.

"Because no one in my life really notices me. They're there to the extent that they can be but no one picks up on when I'm sad or when I'm happy. Maybe it's because I've spent so much of my life hiding how I feel that I've gotten so good at it that even the people in my life can't see me anymore." Ruby said, as the tears in her eyes threatened to fall.

"I'm sorry." Otis said.

"Why are you sorry?" Ruby asked.

"Because maybe I'm one of the people who didn't see you even though I always said I would and I'm sorry." Otis said.

"It's okay. You have a lot going on with Maeve and Isaac." Ruby said.

"Yeah but I promise to still be there for you. I hate that you had to feel alone in whatever it is that you're going through." Otis said.

"My mom's pretty sick. The doctors say it's nothing to worry about but I'm really scared." Ruby said, feeling very vulnerable.

"I know that must be very hard on you. I'm sure she's going to be okay." Otis said.

"Yeah. I hope she is too. My dad's really busy with taking care of her and work and I get that but I just.. I feel like I have no one to turn to and it sucks because I never let myself feel like that." Ruby said.

"It's okay to need people, Ruby. " Otis said.

"Yeah well I don't want to. People suck and they disappoint you and they never completely understand." Ruby said.

Otis didn't say anything. He just stared at the grass underneath his feet.

"But thank you for trying." Ruby said, pulling Otis in for a hug.

"You're welcome." Otis said, hugging Ruby back.

Ruby felt weird hugging Otis. It wasn't the first time they'd hugged but this time felt different, a lot more intimate. Maybe because Ruby had poured her heart to Otis and for the first time she felt safe instead of scared while showing the more vulnerable parts of herself. She wasn't really sure what any of this meant, why everything felt different and new and confusing. But what she did know was that she liked it.


	19. Chapter 19

Otis paced the length of the classroom. He was supposed to have a project meeting with Ruby and Ola. Ruby had already texted him saying she was going to be late and Otis was dreading being alone with Ola. Things between them had been awkward since his party. Sure they'd say everything was fine and that they were 'friends' but there was always a lack of closure between them and they knew it. Otis thought of delaying the meeting or bailing but decided against it at the last minute.

"Hey, you alright?" Ola asked, walking into the classroom and putting her bag on the nearest chair.

"Hey, yeah, how you doing?" Otis asked, awkwardly.

"I'm okay, where's Ruby?" Ola asked, looking around the room.

"She just texted saying she's running late." Otis said.

"What else is new?" Ola asked with a small laugh.

Otis smiled back, relieved at how this wasn't the most awkward conversation he had ever had. Which to be fair, is a hard record to beat given the fact that he's Otis Milburn but he was still doing alright. However, his sense of relief didn't last long because the silence in the room was fast becoming deafening as the minutes began to pass. It was painful how they could sense the other's tiniest movements, hoping and praying that Ruby would show up soon.

Otis couldn't help run an internal monologue of all the things he wished he could say to Ola, all the things he knew he would've said if things had ended differently between them. The silence in the room and the noise in his mind were beginning to drive Otis crazy. He felt like he was going to explode.

"I'm really proud of you!" Otis almost screamed as he suddenly stopped his pacing.

"What?" Ola asked, clearly startled.

"I'm really proud of you for being yourself so beautiful and truly and for being with Lily. The two of you are so perfect together, it's crazy to think there was ever a time you weren't together." Otis said.

"That's really sweet, Otis. A little shocking but I appreciate it." Ola said.

"I've been meaning to say this for a very long time. I've also wanted to apologise for the party. I know you said we're okay and maybe we are but I wanted us to have a better ending than we did. You were my first girlfriend; Ola and you're always going to be very special to me. It sucks that I was a complete douche and I'm very sorry to have put you through that. I kind of wish I was there for you and I could've been there when you and Lily found each other. I know it sounds weird because we used to date and she's your girlfriend but I think once I got distance from what we had I realised we were never meant to be together romantically. You and I got along so well and we always had so much fun together. You and I, we're supposed to a beautiful friendship and I guess what I'm saying through this very incoherent and unsolicited rant is that I hope I haven't ruined our chance at that." Otis said.

"You haven't. I agree with you, you and I are supposed to be great friends and maybe that's why we didn't work out. But for what it's worth, I have no hard feelings for how things ended. I see you and Maeve and it just makes sense to me. The two of you fit together, in a way you and I never did." Ola said.

"Thanks. It means a lot to me to know that you and I are okay." Otis said, with a smile.

"We're more than okay. Come here." Ola said, opening her arms out for Otis to hug her.

Otis shrugged his shoulders in a way that was a mixture of cute and awkward and went onto to hug Ola as tight as he possibly could. It almost felt cathartic to let go of their past together and the baggage of having hurt Ola, something that had been weighing quite heavily on Otis' mind.

"I did not sign up for whatever this is." Ruby said, walking into the room.

"You're here." Ola said, pulling away from Otis.

"Yes I am and already regretting showing up." Ruby said.

"Ruby.." Otis began, silently asking her to knock it off.

"Why are you always such a bitch?" Ola asked.

"I have no idea who you are and why you think you can talk to me like that." Ruby said, charging towards Ola.

"Hey! Okay! Let's take a bit of a time out. Ruby come with me." Otis said, standing between the girls.

Ruby didn't budge from her position. She looked like she was just about ready to kill Ola.

"Ruby.. Come on." Otis said, holding Ruby's arm.

Ruby decided to go with Otis but continued to give Ola a death stare as she walked out.

"Why do you always have to be like that?" Otis asked, as they walked into the hall.

"Like what?" Ruby asked.

"You know what. Why do you have to constantly push people away?" Otis asked.

"I don't push people away, they just don't understand me." Ruby said, crossing her arms across her chest.

"It's not like you even try to get them to understand you, you always have like five walls up, completely closing you in." Otis said.

Ruby just rolled her eyes. She wasn't really in the mood to explain herself.

"Is everything okay?" Otis asked.

Ruby looked at Otis for a moment, contemplating whether she wanted to tell him what was going on. "Yeah. I tried talking to my dad about school today and he completely blew me off. He was on his phone the entire time. I know he's super stressed all the time but sometimes I just need my dad, you know?"

"Yeah, I do. I'm the poster child for kids with absentee parents. I know how much it hurts. I'm sorry that happened." Otis said.

"I'm sorry I took it out on Olly." Ruby said.

"Ola." Otis said.

"Yeah, Ola. That's what I meant." Ruby said.

"What is with you and calling people by incorrect names?" Otis asked.

"I forget sometimes, okay?" Ruby asked.

"Speaking of calling people by their correct names, I need you to stop screwing with Maeve." Otis said.

"I can't be nice to Cockbitter, it's just not in my blood." Ruby said with a shrug.

"Well you're gonna have to try. Also her name is Maeve." Otis said, clearly getting annoyed.

"Why? It's not like she's nice to me." Ruby said, sounding like a child being scolded.

"You have to try because she's my girlfriend and you're my friend and if we want this friendship to continue, the two of you have to get along." Otis said.

"Ugh, fine. I can't believe you like her this much." Ruby said.

"I can't believe you're surprised." Otis said.

Ruby just rolled her eyes and began walking towards the classroom.

"I'm not in the mood to fight." Ola said, when she saw Ruby and Otis walk into the room.

"I don't want to fight. I'm sorry." Ruby said.

"You're what?" Ola asked, the disbelief etched on her face.

"Don't act like you didn't hear me. Ruby said, the irritation evident in her voice.

"I did but I just can't believe it." Ola said, with a huge grin.

"You know what? Forget it." Ruby said, beginning to walk out again.

"No no, stop. I'm sorry too." Ola said, with a smile.

Ruby nodded awkwardly, not knowing what else to say. She was pretty glad that she and Ola had worked things out though, not that she would ever admit it.

The rest of the meeting went off without a hitch and they actually ended up making a lot of progress. Once the session was over, all of them left the school together. They found Maeve waiting for Otis at the entrance.

"Hey." Maeve said with a smile as she gave Otis a quick kiss.

"Hey." Otis said, returning her smile.

"Hey Maeve, how's it going?" Ola asked.

"Alright, what are you up to now?" Maeve asked.

"Going to over to Lily's, I'll see you guys later." Ola said, walking away.

Ruby thought about leaving without saying a word to Maeve but stopped herself.

"Hey Maeve." Ruby said, awkwardly.

"Wait, did you just call me Maeve?" Maeve asked, her mouth hanging open from the shock.

"Isn't that your name?" Ruby asked.

"It is but I've never heard you using it." Maeve said.

"It's been brought to my attention that I can be.. difficult." Ruby said, shooting a look at Otis. "And I'm trying to work on it." She continued.

"That's actually quite nice and surprising, thank you." Maeve said.

"I'll see you two around." Ruby said, with a small smile as she walked away.

"Well that's something I never thought I'd see." Maeve said.

"She's not that bad once you get to know her." Otis said, holding Maeve's hand. The action had become second nature to him at this point.

"I guess I will get to know her. What did you say to her?" Maeve asked.

"I told her that you're my girlfriend and she's my friend and if we're going to continue being friends, she's going to have to nice to you." Otis said.

"You know you don't have to defend me, right?" Maeve asked, still smiling.

"I know but you're my girlfriend and I can't stand anyone being anything less than nice to you." Otis said.

"I can understand that. That was pretty sweet. But don't go become one of those hyper protective boyfriends who think they need to "protect" me from the world. " Maeve said, suddenly coming to a stop on the sidewalk.

"I promise." Otis said.

Maeve smiled and pulled Otis in for a kiss. The fact that Otis was making such an effort to make sure she was comfortable around Ruby, meant more to Maeve than she would ever admit. She still had her doubts and things she needed to discuss with Otis but they had all the time in the world to get to that. Right now, all Maeve wanted was to take a walk in the afternoon sun with the love of her life.


	20. Chapter 20

A/N: Hey guys! I just wanted to check in and say I hope you're all safe and well. I know times are hard, I hope you're all taking care of yourselves x thank you to each and every person who has read, voted or commented on this story. Your ideas and thoughts are what motivate me to keep writing. To anyone who's worried, I know I don't end up updating super frequently but I am a 100% committed to finishing the story and giving you guys a proper ending that hopefully you all enjoy. Okay, I'm going to stop now, so that we can get to the actual story, hope you guys like the chapter!

Maeve was shitting herself. Today was the day she was supposed to have dinner with Otis' mom. Sure Jean was super cool and was nothing like any other mom she had ever met, but that didn't change the fact that Maeve still had the worst history with her boyfriend's parents. If she was being honest, she didn't really care about how things went down with Jackson's parents, not because her feelings for him weren't real, but because she just wasn't in the same headspace as him. He wanted something serious and Maeve wasn't sure if she was ready for that. But with Otis, serious was all she wanted. She wanted commitment and family dinners and all the messiness and craziness that comes with giving yourself completely and truly to someone you love. She knew Otis loved her but she was worried how Jean potentially having a negative opinion of her could change that.

"I'm freaking out, Otis." Maeve said, as she paced around her trailer while talking to Otis on the phone.

"You have nothing to be afraid of Maeve. I honestly think my mom already likes you." Otis said.

"That seems very unlikely given how I first met her." Maeve said, still cringing at the memory.

"She's literally a sex therapist Maeve, these things don't freak her out. I get that I'm her son and the whole experience was nothing short of traumatising, but she still understands these things from a rational standpoint. I promise this isn't going to be problem." Otis said.

"I really hope you're right. What should I wear?" Maeve asked, taking out anything remotely appropriate from her wardrobe and throwing it on her bed. Most of what she had out were her leather jackets.

"Anything you like. There's nothing you need to change about yourself, Maeve. You can show up in your leather jacket and your black skirt and my mom would like you just as much as she would if you were in a dress. Please wear whatever makes you feel comfortable, you're worried as is." Otis said.

Maeve wanted to melt right there and then. How was he so perfect? He was literally being the definition of the perfect boyfriend and it felt overwhelming and suffocating and somehow like drowning but in a good way. Maeve wasn't sure if any of that made any sense (it probably didn't) but there was no other way of describing the intensity of her feelings. Maeve had spent her life trying to not be a 'feeler' her fear of experiencing pain had often stopped her from experiencing any of the good stuff, so when happiness and love came and hit her like a jolt of electricity, shaking her to her very core, she wasn't sure how to react.

"Maeve? Are you still there?" Otis asked.

"Huh? Yeah." Maeve said, realising she had been too caught up in her own head, living out a cheesy teen movie montage of her love for Otis to even respond.

"Are you okay?" Otis asked.

"Yeah, you're right. Thank you, I love you." Maeve said.

"I love you too." Otis said.

Maeve smiled; she never got tired of hearing those words from Otis.

"Everything is going to be fine." Otis said.

"I hope so, I'll see you tonight." Maeve said.

"Bye." Otis said.

"Bye." Maeve said, hanging up the phone.

She still had no idea what she was going to wear but she decided to go and make herself a sandwich instead of stressing out.

Later that evening, Maeve walked as slowly as humanly possible to Otis' house. She was dreading this so much. Sure, she knew Jean would be nice but would she really like her? Otis had never had a serious girlfriend (that Maeve knew of anyway), what if Jean was super protective and territorial? Was Maeve supposed to just back off if that happened or was she supposed to stand up for herself? She had been overthinking so much; she was beginning to sound like Otis.

"Hey, you look great." Otis said, opening the door. He was finding it hard to tear his eyes away from Maeve who was dressed in a straight black dress. It wasn't formal but it was exactly Maeve in this weird way that Otis couldn't explain.

"Hey, you too." Maeve said, giving Otis a quick peck on the lips. He was dressed in a blue shirt and khaki pants. Maeve wasn't sure why Otis was the one dressed formally but she figured this was his way of feeling like he had some control over the situation and she understood where he was coming from.

"Hello Maeve, you look beautiful." Jean said, as Maeve and Otis walked into the kitchen.

"Thanks, so do you Ms. Milburn." Maeve said. She wasn't lying; Jean did look beautiful in her pink dress. It was clear she was putting in an effort too.

"Call me Jean, darling." Jean said.

Maeve smiled back, starting to feel a little nervous.

"I hope you like chicken lasagna, it's Otis' favourite." Jean said, taking a dish out of the oven and placing it on the table.

"Yeah, I really like it actually." Maeve said.

"I'm glad, should we start eating?" Jean asked.

"Sure." Maeve said, taking a seat next to Otis who held her hand reassuringly under the table.

"I want to start by saying, you shouldn't feel weird about last week. I get how we met wasn't ideal but I understand the situation. I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable but I want you to know there's no judgment from my side." Jean said, passing Maeve the lasagna.

"Thank you, Jean. That's very sweet of you." Maeve said with a smile, as she looked over at Otis, who squeezed her hand in response.

"I know you're probably a little nervous right now, meeting your boyfriend's parents is a big deal. I remember when, I met Remi's parents they hated me. They thought I was corrupting their wonderful little boy, when the truth was that Remi was the definition of a bad influence, he still is. "Jean said, beginning to pick at the lasagna on her plate.

"Oh wow, how did you deal with that?" Maeve asked, before she could stop herself. Jean seemed less intimidating by the minute.

"We never did, I think they still hate me. They never thought I "deserved" Remi. Over time, I realised that parents have this view of the world that makes them believe their child is perfect, that whoever gets to be with them should somehow earn it. And while that's almost an unavoidable sentiment once you become a parent because your child is your whole world, I'm a firm believer in the idea that a relationship only works when both people put in the work. If they're so focused on the idea of whom "deserves" whom, it's just never going to work. Both people need to put in the work to deserve each other." Jean said, having a sip of water.

"I agree." Maeve said. She was a little surprised by how upfront and honest Jean was being with her but she was enjoying the level of comfort they had already begun to share.

"Otis has changed since he met you." Jean said, taking a bite of her food.

"Has he?" Maeve asked, nervously. She wasn't sure where Jean was about to take this.

"Yeah, he's a lot more sure of himself and what he wants. I'm sure a lot of that is because Otis has put in the work to become the version of himself he wants but I think you've supported him in ways he didn't know he needed. I see him being more himself lately but without a lot of the inhibitions and anxieties he's carried all his life. And I want to thank you for that." Jean said.

"I've changed because of him too. I'm a better, more honest version of myself and that's because of Otis. And I think gets his ability to make the other person feel heard and seen from you. He really looks up to you." Maeve said with a smile.

"I'm really glad to hear that and quite flattered if I'm being honest. I know this Otis' first relationship and those can be hard but I'm happy he's doing right by you. I hope you're doing right by him too. No matter what anyone tells you, relationships always come down to communication. It's about how much of your heart and your mind you're welling to share with the other person. And that's one of the hardest things to do in the world. Contrary to popular belief, vulnerability is for the brave." Jean said.

"I really like that." Otis said, speaking for the first time.

"Be fearless with your feelings, that's the one thing I've learnt. I know this was supposed to be a dinner where we got to know each other and it's kind of become a weird combination of a lecture and a therapy session but it's important for me to tell you these things." Jean said.

"No I'm really enjoying this, please go ahead." Maeve said with a smile.

"Just be honest, no matter what it is. Being in love with someone can at times also mean being at war with your insecurities. There's always going to be a voice in your head that tells you to run because you'll never be good enough or tells you that settling down is a trap but that's all bullshit. Go after what you want, I wish I had." Jean said.

"What's going on, mom?" Otis asked, the concern evident in his voice.

"Jakob. I shouldn't have let him go." Jean said.

"Is this because of what happened between him and I? I apologised to him at the play that day." Otis said.

"No it's not but I appreciate you doing that." Jean said.

Maeve wasn't really sure what she was supposed to do right now. She had imagined every possible scenario of how this could've gone down but Jean pouring her heart to her and Otis was somehow not one of the scenarios that came up.

"Then what's wrong?" Otis asked.

"He doesn't want a relationship which to be fair, he's entitled to. I pushed him away for so long but things are different now. We're having a baby and I know I love him and I want us to be a family." Jean said.

"You're having a what?" Otis asked, choking on his food a little.

Jean looked like she had just seen a ghost. In her unfiltered heartbroken rant, she had let her biggest secret slip. Of course she was going to tell Otis, she was just waiting for the right time. Dinner with his girlfriend was not what she had in mind.


	21. Chapter 21

"You're having a what?" Otis asked again.

"I'm having a baby. I'm pregnant with Jakob's child." Jean said, feeling quite uncomfortable.

"Wow." Otis said.

"Congratulations, Jean!" Maeve said, not quite sure what else to say.

"Thank you darling. Otis?" Jean asked, nervously turning to her son.

"This means we're going to move in with Jakob and Ola. If you guys get married, Ola and I will be stepsiblings. That's kind of weird but it's a good thing Ola and I made up. There's going to be so many diapers. I've never changed a diaper in my life. I'll have to shut down the sex clinic so I can look after the baby while you're at work. Am I going to have to give the baby advice? I'm not very good at advice!" Otis began to ramble, the panic evident in his voice.

"Otis!" Jean tried to interrupt him.

"The baby is going to be seventeen years younger than me. I don't think it's going to think I'm the cool big brother, how am I supposed to be the cool big brother? I have no answers to any of the questions it'll ask me!" Otis continued his panicked ramble.

"Otis!" Maeve said raising her voice, snapping Otis out his rant.

Otis took a deep breath to steady himself. He had just realised what a rollercoaster of emotions he had gone through in less than a minute.

"Congratulations mom!" Otis said, still looking stunned.

"You're not really saying how you feel about this." Jean said.

"I'm just shocked. Are you planning on having the baby?" Otis asked.

"Yes." Jean said.

"Then I'll help you take care of him or her." Otis said, with a smile.

Maeve looked at Otis with the most proud smile on her face.

"You will?" Jean asked.

"Of course, it's going to be my little sibling." Otis said.

"That's so sweet Otis." Jean said.

"Does Jakob know?" Otis asked.

"No." jean said.

"Are you planning on telling him?" Otis asked.

"I don't know. I don't want him to feel like I'm trying to trap him into staying with me." Jean said.

Maeve was starting to feel quite awkward; she couldn't help but feel like she was intruding. She couldn't really leave in the middle of what was clearly a very serious and private conversation but it felt weird to stay and listen. Otis would've told her all of his anyway but it was different to watch it play out.

"I think you should tell him, he deserves to know. And I feel like he would want to be a part of the baby's life. Of course it's your decision but if you need help talking to him, I could talk to Ola for you." Otis said.

"You would do that?" Jean asked.

"Yeah of course." Otis said.

"Thank you, Otis. Is it okay if we talk about this tomorrow? I'm feeling quite tired." Jean said.

"Yeah sure. Do you need anything?" Otis asked, starting to clear the table.

"No, thanks. Maeve, I'm sorry for ruining dinner with my little revelation." Jean said.

"No, not at all. Congratulations once again." Maeve said with a smile.

"Thank you." Jean said with a smile as she went upstairs.

Once Jean had left, Otis and Maeve started cleaning up.

"Wow." Otis said.

"When you invited me to dinner with your mom, I tried to imagine and prep for each and every scenario except this one." Maeve said.

"I don't think it was possible to prep for this. I'm sorry you had to just sit there. It was super uncomfortable for me, so I can't even imagine how it was for you." Otis said.

"It's okay, at least I now know how you'd react if I was pregnant." Maeve said with a smile as she dried a plate Otis had just washed.

"Wait, are you?" Otis asked, almost dropping the plate he was washing.

Maeve rolled her eyes at Otis while smiling her special Otis smile. She loved how stupid he could be sometimes.

"Oh yeah, that's not possible. Because we haven't.." Otis said, the realization hitting him like a bolt of lightening.

Maeve directed her attention back to the plate in he rhand. She wanted to talk to Otis about this but she knew this might not be the best time.

"I've been meaning to talk to you about that." Otis said, as if he had read Maeve's mind.

"You have?" Maeve asked.

"Yeah, I've noticed whenever we're about to take that step and I pull away, you seem really upset. And I wanted to talk to about where my head is. None of that is about you, I promise." Otis said.

"What's going on?" Maeve asked.

"I'm just nervous." Otis said, putting down the plate and turning to Maeve.

"Nervous about what?" Maeve asked.

"What if we aren't compatible like that? What if I don't meet the expectations you have?" Otis asked.

"I have no expectations, Otis. I love you and I want to be with you and to me that involves being intimate with you too." Maeve said.

"It does for me too. But I have no experience and I've heard I'm okay but what if that's not good enough?" Otis asked, the nervousness evident in his voice.

"Wait, what do you mean you've heard you're okay? Did you ask Ruby?" Maeve asked, not being able to contain her laughter.

"Maybe.." Otis said, which only made Maeve laugh louder. "Forget I said anything." He said, getting pissed off.

"No no, I'm sorry. Look, I think we're going to be fine. We love each other, so it's already going to be amazing and everything with you is better than I can even imagine. And if for whatever reason, we take some time to find our rhythm, that's fine too. I just want you to trust me enough to take that step." Maeve said.

"I do, I really do. I promise it's not about that. It's just that we've been waiting for this for so long, I just want it to actually meet all the expectations we have in our heads. And I know how important the physical aspect of a relationship can be." Otis said.

"Of course it's important but it's not everything and besides, I really don't think we're going to have a problem. If I'm being honest, you haven't been the only one pulling away. I've been scared of it too." Maeve said, looking down at her hands.

"Why?" Maeve asked.

"Well because I've never been this open in a relationship. All my walls are down and I guess sex is literally the only boundary left. And even though I trust you completely, I'm scared. My instincts are always telling me to never let anyone all the way in and I guess that voice in my head takes over sometimes." Maeve said.

"I can understand that. So why don't we just go with the flow? We don't have to put pressure on ourselves or set a date, we do it when it feels right, for the both of us." Otis said.

"Sounds good to me." Maeve said, pulling Otis in for a kiss.

Both of them felt lighter having spoken about what was on their mind. At the end of the day, Jean was right, being in love means going to war with your own insecurities just to make sure you can make your relationship work. And while that's always hard as fuck, it becomes easier when you did it with and for someone who understands.

Maeve and Otis pulled away a little breathless and smiling. They went back to doing the dishes, with Otis washing and Maeve drying the plates. Maeve put on some soft music in the background and they continued their little routine. It felt super domestic, the kind of life both of them wanted with each other. Maeve couldn't help but imagine that empty house of hers not feeling so empty anymore. She could imagine having dinner with Otis every night, discussing their day and then cleaning up together. It would be a quiet life, filled with the sound of their laughter. Maeve almost wanted to smack herself for being so cheesy but that was the effect Otis had on her. She didn't want that sad house anymore; she wanted Otis and a life with him. And every day, she felt like she was moving one step closer to that dream life with Otis.


	22. Chapter 22

Otis had been wrecking his brain all night, trying to find the right words to tell Ola about his mom's pregnancy. He wasn't sure why he had suggested telling Ola, who was then supposed to tell her father. This was a very high school way of handling what was a very adult situation but he'd promised to be a better person and son so he was doing what he had to. Somewhere around 3am, Otis had decided that the words would come to him in the moment and what he really needed was sleep.

"Morning." Otis said, walking into the kitchen and giving his mother a kiss on the cheek.

"Morning darling." Jean said, taking a sip of her orange juice.

"How are you feeling?" Otis asked, taking a seat across from Jean at their small dining table.

"Alright, you?" Jean asked.

"Okay. I'm planning on telling Ola today." Otis said.

Jean responded by choking on her juice.

"Mom! Are you okay?" Otis asked, the worry evident in his voice.

"Yeah. I just wasn't expecting you to tell her so soon." Jean said, between coughs.

"Yeah, I figured the sooner I did it, the better it was." Otis said.

"Yeah I guess you're right. Do you know what you're going to say?" Jean asked.

"Not really, I'm hoping the words come to me, when I meet her." Otis said.

"I know this is an uncomfortable situation for you, but thank you for doing this." Jean said.

"Of course." Otis said.

"Have you heard from Maeve? I hope I didn't scare her off with my antics at dinner this weekend." Jean said.

"Yeah I have, we've basically been talking no stop. You didn't do anything; we actually ended up having a much-needed conversation because of some of the advice you gave during dinner. So thank you." Otis said with a smile.

"Oh I'm glad. Was it the part about fighting your insecurities? That always works." Jean said, with a smug look on her face.

"Yeah it was actually." Otis said with a laugh. He hadn't seen Jean seem so at ease in a while and it made Otis happy to see Jean be herself. He didn't always say it but he knew he had an outstanding mother and he knew it was time for him to step up for her, the way she had for him all his life.

"I'm going to be taking a break from coming to your school for a bit. I want to rest, while I can. Also, I'm worried someone will figure out I'm pregnant and it'll spread before Jakob finds out." Jean said.

"Normally I would say you're being paranoid but with the kind of luck we've had with you and my school, I think it's the right call. I should get going, don't want to be late." Otis said.

"Have a good day darling." Jean said, calling out after Otis as he left.

Otis and Eric rode to school together in silence. Otis was debating whether he should tell Eric about his mom's pregnancy before he tells Ola. He loved Eric, Eric was Otis' best friend but he was also the worst secret keeper in the history of the world and maybe telling him would do more damage than good.

"Okay, what's going on?" Eric asked, as Otis and he parked their bikes at school.

"What do you mean?" Otis asked.

"You've been completely silent and super broody this entire time. You only get like this when something is bothering you. Was it dinner with your mom and Maeve? Did it not go well? I've been meaning to ask you but your super sad exterior made me want to wait." Eric said.

"Dinner was fine." Otis said, trying to be as cryptic as possible.

"Oh my god, did you and Maeve get into another one of your weird fights? How are you guys this bad at being in love with each other!?" Eric asked, looking like he was in physical pain at the thought of dealing with another Motis fight. He was also in pain because he had just referred to Maeve and Otis as Motis in his head.

"Maeve and I are fine, we're actually pretty good." Otis said, slightly annoyed at Eric directly assuming that Maeve and he were in a bad place.

"Then what is it?" Eric asked.

Otis knew that Eric was not going to let him go until he told him what was going on, so Otis decided to reluctantly give in. "Okay, you can't tell anyone what I'm about to tell you. Do you promise?" He asked.

"Yeah of course." Eric said, the excitement etched on his face.

"My mom is pregnant." Otis said.

"With whose child!?" Eric asked, a little too loudly.

"Jakob." Otis said, with a look that asked Eric to shut up.

"Isn't that Ola's dad?" Eric asked.

"Yeah, they used to date, remember?" Otis asked.

"Oh yeah, this is juicy!" Eric said.

"What the fuck Eric?" Otis asked, getting annoying mostly because he had no idea what the fuck juicy meant in this context.

"Okay I'm sorry. How are you doing?" Eric asked.

"I'm fine but Jakob doesn't know so I offered to tell Ola who could tell Jakob or at least warn him." Otis said.

"That sounds like a bad idea." Eric said.

"Yeah well I want to be supportive." Otis said.

"That's sweet. When are you going to tell her?" Eric asked.

"Today." Otis said.

"Good luck! Here she comes!" Eric said.

"Hey guys!" Ola said.

"Hey look it's Ola!" Eric said in a squeaky voice.

"Yup." Ola said awkwardly.

"You alright?" Eric asked.

"Ola, can I chat to you for a second?" Otis asked.

"Sure, see you Eric." Ola said, walking away with Otis.

"I was thinking we can just talk in the health classroom, we have health in first period anyway." Otis said.

"Okay sure." Ola said.

Otis felt like passing out. He had always been someone who got anxious about things other people were calm about. He'd never really talked about it with anyone because he wasn't sure how to articulate it apart from calling it a perpetual feeling of impending doom. But lately that feeling had gotten worse and he could feel it reaching a fever pitch. He felt like he was on the verge of a panic attack, so he began focusing on his breath, the way his mom used to tell him to as a child. It felt like for those few moments, he got away from the world, a place that more often than not felt scary to him.

"Are you okay? You look pale, paler than usual." Ola said, once they'd reached the classroom.

"I'm worried about telling you about something." Otis said, surprised by his own honesty.

"Is everything okay?" Ola asked.

"Yeah, I just don't know how you'll react." Otis said, finally feeling a little calmer.

"Just lay it on me. I know we have a weird dynamic that we're still navigating but you can tell me anything Otis." Ola said.

"Okay, I'm just going to blurt it out then." Otis said.

"Okay, take your time." Ola said.

In the meantime, Ruby and Isaac had collected outside the classroom.

"Why aren't you going inside?" Ruby asked.

"Because Ola and Otis are in the middle of an intense conversation." Isaac said, peeping into the room.

"So?" Ruby asked.

"I'm giving them privacy." Isaac said.

"No you're not. You're trying to eavesdrop." Ruby said, joining Isaac in trying to listen in.

Back in the classroom, Otis still hadn't said anything.

"Otis?" Ruby asked, trying to get my attention.

"My mom, she's pregnant, with your dad's child." Otis said.

"SHE'S PREGNANT?!" Ola asked, at the top of her voice.

"Yeah but Jakob doesn't know." Otis said.

"Oh wow. I think I need to sit down." Ola said, pulling a chair.

"I told you because I was hoping you could calmly talk to Jakob about it or at least make it easier for my mom to tell him. They've been going through a rough spell lately. I also didn't want you to find out from someone in school." Otis said.

"Wait, who all know?" Ola asked.

"Maeve, because my mom told me in front of her at dinner this weekend and Eric because he got it out of me." Otis said.

"So, that's why Eric was being weirder than usual around me." Ola said.

"Yeah." Otis said.

"How do you feel about it?" Ola asked.

"Weird but I'm trying to focus on being there for my mom. You?" Otis asked.

"Same." Ola said.

"I know this is complicated, even for us but I think we can make it work. I promise not to be a dick this time." Otis said.

"Yeah I think we can. I guess congratulations are in order." Ola said, giving Otis a hug.

"To you too. Can't believe we're going to share a half sibling." Otis said, hugging Ola back.

Otis was washed over with a feeling of relief, Ola had been super cool about everything, which made sense since Ola was always super cool but Otis was genuinely scared about how this conversation would go down.

Calm wasn't exactly what Ruby and Isaac were feeling. All they had heard was Ola screaming she's pregnant and then had watched her give Otis a congratulatory hug.

"So wait, does that mean Maeve's pregnant?" Ruby asked, turning to Isaac.

Isaac was frozen; he could feel tears forming in his eyes.

"Isaac? Hello?" Ruby asked.

"We can't know for sure she is!" Isaac said, defensively.

"I mean yeah sure but it sounds like it." Ruby said.

Before Isaac could say anything else, the bell rang. Ruby didn't say anything and walked into class. Isaac stayed where he was as students moved past him and into the classroom. He felt like the world had come crashing around him. This wasn't how things were supposed to happen, Maeve and he were supposed to be together. She wasn't supposed to be having Otis' child. For the first time, he didn't know what to do, he felt utterly lost and he had no one to turn to.


	23. Chapter 23

Isaac had not stopped thinking about Maeve. He just couldn't wrap his head around the fact that she was pregnant. If he was being honest, he had taken an active step back from pursing her because a part of him truly believed that she would find his way back to him. But with a baby in the mix, everything had changed. He knew he had to speak to Maeve, see how she was feeling. So Isaac decided to go speak to Maeve as soon as he reached school.

"Hey Maeve." Isaac said.

"Hey." Maeve said, without even looking at Isaac.

"Can we talk?" Isaac asked.

"What do you want to talk about?" Maeve asked, shutting her locker.

"I want to talk about what's going on." Isaac said.

"Which is?" Maeve asked, already getting annoyed with how cryptic Isaac was being.

"I know about the pregnancy." Isaac whispered, looking around to make sure no one heard.

"How?" Maeve asked.

"I overheard Ola and Otis talking before class." Isaac said.

"You were eavesdropping on Otis? This shit is getting old." Maeve said, rolling her eyes.

"It wasn't my intention. I was waiting for class to start." Isaac said.

"Of course you were." Maeve said, starting to walk away.

"No wait." Isaac said.

"What?" Maeve asked, turning around.

"How are you doing with this?" Isaac asked, the concern evident in his voice.

"What do you mean?" Maeve asked.

"I mean this is going to change your life." Isaac said.

"Not really. It's going to change Otis' life a lot more than it will mine." Maeve said.

"What?" Isaac asked.

"Yeah well, it's his responsibility." Maeve said, like it was obvious.

"Well, won't you be a part of raising the child?" Isaac asked.

"I mean sure, I guess. My involvement will be more indirect. It's mostly going to be on Otis. Oh and on Ola." Maeve said.

"Ola? What does she have to do with this?" Isaac asked.

"What do you mean what does she have to do with this? She has everything to do with this. She actually has as much to do with this as Otis does." Maeve said.

Isaac just stared at Maeve. He had no idea what to ask her next. How the fuck did Ola have as much of a part as Otis in getting Maeve pregnant? Wasn't she dating Lily? Were they some kind of throupe?

"I didn't know Ola, Otis and you were that close." Isaac said, trying to tread as lightly as possible.

"We aren't really. I guess we've gotten closer recently." Maeve said.

"Close is one way of describing it." Isaac said under his breath.

"What?" Maeve asked.

"Nothing." Isaac said. He decided not to push it, he could tell how pissed Maeve already was.

"Why are you so interested in this anyway?" Maeve asked.

"Well because it's related to you and I want to make sure you're okay." Isaac said.

"I'm fine, you don't have to look out for me." Maeve said, getting slightly annoyed that they were back on this shit, again.

"Of course I do." Isaac said.

"No you don't and I'm not going to do this again. Don't try and pull anything, Isaac." Maeve said.

"I'm not, I swear." Isaac said.

Maeve just rolled her eyes and walked away. She honestly did not have the patience to deal with yet another creepy conversation with Isaac. Whenever she was on the verge of warming up a little towards him, he would go and completely fuck it up. It was like his special talent. A talent Maeve had no time for, especially with everything going on.

Ruby was in similar headspace as Isaac, if the headspace in question was not knowing what the fuck was going on. She couldn't believe Maeve was pregnant. Both she and Otis were so young and she knew for a fact that Otis wasn't ready to be a father. He was barely ready to be a teenager, let alone raise a baby. So when she spotted him walking down the hall, she decided to chat to him about everything going on.

"Hey." Ruby said, catching up to Otis.

"Hey." Otis said.

"How are you doing?" Ruby asked.

"Are you okay?" Otis asked.

"What? Yeah, why?" Ruby asked.

"Well because you just asked me how I was doing and looked genuinely interested in my answer. I don't think that's happened once in all the time I've known you." Otis said with a teasing smile.

"Shut up. I can be a caring person." Ruby said.

"Uh hun.." Otis said.

"Anyway, how are you doing?" Ruby asked.

"Alright I guess, my mind is all over the place but what else is new? How are you?" Otis asked.

"I'm fine. You know you can talk to me about anything, right?" Ruby asked, suddenly stopping.

"Yeah, of course. What's going on?" Otis asked.

"I know." Ruby said, trying to be discrete.

"Know what?" Otis asked.

"About the pregnancy." Ruby said.

"What? How?" Otis asked, looking around to see if anyone was listening.

"I heard you and Ola talking about it before class on Friday." Ruby said.

"Can you please not tell anyone? She's not ready for people to know." Otis said.

"Yeah of course. How are you doing with it?" Ruby asked.

"I'm shocked, of course but I'm just trying to be there for her and support her." Otis said.

"That's sweet. How are you planning on supporting her? Are you going to get an after school job?" Ruby asked.

"No, I don't think so. I guess the clinic is an afterschool job." Otis said.

"Oh will she be okay with you running it after the baby is born?" Ruby asked.

"I don't know actually, I should ask her." Otis said.

"Isn't she a little young to be having a baby?" Ruby asked.

"What? Some would say she's too old." Otis said.

"How were you planning on supporting her?" Ruby asked, taking a sip of water. She decided to just ignore what Otis had said; she just assumed he was being sarcastic or awkward the way he usually is.

"I was going to start by helping her tell the father." Otis said.

Ruby responded by choking on her water.

"Are you okay?" Otis asked.

"Yeah. What do you mean help her tell the father?" Ruby asked between coughs.

"He doesn't know yet and she's nervous so I'm going to help her do it. Well Ola and I are going to help her." Otis said.

"And you're okay with this?" Ruby asked.

"I wasn't initially, I was really a dick to him but I'm okay with it now. Whatever makes her happy." Otis said.

Before Ruby could say anything, she was interrupted by Maeve joining them.

"Hey." Maeve said with a smile.

"Hey baby." Otis said, giving Maeve a quick peck on the lips.

"Wow." Ruby said, not meaning to say it out loud.

"What?" Maeve asked.

"Nothing, you guys are really something." Ruby said.

Otis and Maeve just looked at each other and smiled because they just assumed Ruby was complimenting how cute they were.

"I'll see you guys around." Ruby said.

"Bye." Otis said.

"Was she okay?" Ruby asked.

"I'm not sure, she was being very weird. She knows about my mum." Otis said.

"So does Isaac and he was being super weird about it too." Maeve said.

"What the fuck is wrong with everyone today? It's not a big deal." Otis said.

"Yeah well, whatever. Let's get some lunch." Maeve said, grabbing Otis' hand.

"Okay." Otis said with a smile.

Maeve and Otis forgot about what Ruby and Isaac had said, mostly because they were too happy just being together. Isaac and Ruby on the other hand had not stopped thinking about their conversations with Maeve and Otis. They couldn't for the life of them understand how both of them were being so chill about this pregnancy. They were super confused and wanted to get more answers but it was okay because things can only end well, when there's confusion and miscommunication.


	24. Chapter 24

**A/N: Hey guys! Hope you're all safe and taking care of yourselves. I'm sorry for disappearing..again. Responsibilities and life have a wonderful way of getting in the way whenever I find the inspiration to write but I promise I'm working on it. Thank you to everyone who has read, liked or reviewed this story, I appreciate you all so much xx I love hearing your ideas for the story, so happy that you feel even a little invested in something I'm writing. Feel free to hit me up with your ideas for this story or a new one. I haven't thought of an ending for this story yet and if I'm being honest, I don't want to end it just yet. So I'm going to write it for as long as you guys want to read it. Hope you guys like the chapter x**

The past few days had been overwhelming to say the least. Otis had found out his mum was pregnant with Jakob's child, someone who was also Otis' ex-girlfriend's father. Their situation had always been a little weird but adding a baby to it had taken it to new levels of complicated.

Otis knew today was going to be a very stressful day for his mum since Ola had finally decided to tell her dad about what was going on, or at least hint at it. She had promised to text Otis about what happens, so Otis was sitting at the kitchen table staring at his phone.

"What's got your attention, darling?" Jean asked, walking around the kitchen.

"Just waiting on a text." Otis said, briefly looking up from his phone.

"Maeve?" Jean asked with a smile.

"No, Ola." Otis said, looking up at his mother.

"Has she told Jakob?" Jean asked, taking a seat in front of Otis.

"Not yet, she told me she would text me as soon as she had." Otis said.

"Do you know what she's going to say?" Jean asked.

"I think she's just going to hint at what's going on, just as a way of making it easier for you to tell him. You do want to tell him, right?" Otis asked.

"I'm not sure." Jean said.

"What do you mean you're not sure?" Otis asked.

"I don't know how he'll react." Jean said.

"Yeah but that's why we're asking Ola to help. She'll be able to handle him." Otis said.

"Yeah, I hope so." Jean said.

"This is the right thing to do mum, he deserves to know." Otis said.

"You're right. Tell me what Ola says." Jean said, getting up from her place at the table.

"Where are you going?" Otis asked.

"I'm going to be sick." Jean said, running towards the bathroom.

Otis didn't really know what to do at this point. He wanted to help but he was doing what he could and he knew beyond a certain point, it wasn't his place to tell his mum what to do. So he did the only thing he could, he stared at his phone, with the hope that if he stared at it intensely enough, it would buzz.

Ola was pacing around her kitchen. She had absolutely no what she was supposed to say to her father. Why had she even agreed to doing this in the first place?! This was a horrible idea. Sure, she didn't have to tell him exactly what was going on but she still had to gauge how he felt about the situation and if she was being honest, part of her didn't want to know.

Ola's thoughts were interrupted by Jakob walking into the kitchen.

"You look like you've just seen a ghost, what's going on?" Jakob asked, walking over to the fridge.

"I'm just thinking." Ola said.

"About what?" Jakob asked.

"Babies." Ola said.

"Babies?" Jakob asked, now turning to look at Ola.

"Yeah, about how cute they are. What do you think about babies?" Ola asked, she had no idea where the fuck she was going with this.

"They're okay." Jakob said.

"Would you like more children?" Ola asked, what the fuck was she even saying?!

"Not particularly. Is there something you want to tell me, Ola?" Jakob asked, suspiciously eying his daughter who was fidgeting in her place by the sink.

"No, why would I have something to tell you?!" Ola asked.

"Because you're asking me about what I think of children and babies and if I want more. You've never once had a conversation like this with me." Jakob said.

"Yes, which is why I wanted to know your opinion but you know what, leave it. Sorry I asked." Ola said, rushing out of the room.

"Ola! Ola! I'm sorry!" Jakob called out after her.

Jakob always felt like he and his daughter had a bond where they understood each other, at least enough to know what the hell the other was saying but apparently that wasn't the case.

Right after she ran out of her house, Ola texted Otis telling him how badly everything had gone. Otis was pretty sad after hearing that Jakob might not want to be a part of his child's life. A lot of Otis' unresolved issued began to surface but he did what he had always done in the face of these issues – ignore them. He got through the school day pretty much like a zombie. He didn't really speak to anyone and rushed home after school. He was lying in his bed searching for things on his laptop when he heard a knock on his door.

"Come in." Otis said absentmindedly.

"Hey." Maeve said walking in.

"Hey, I didn't know we had plans." Otis said, sitting up a little straighter.

"We didn't but you seemed off during school so I decided to check up on you. Your mom let me in." Maeve said, taking a seat next to Otis on his bed.

"I'm glad you're here." Otis said, pulling Maeve in for a quick kiss.

"What are you doing?" Maeve asked, watching Otis type something on his laptop.

"I'm looking for stuff for the baby." Otis said.

"That's so sweet." Maeve said, flashing her signature Otis smile.

"Yeah, I kind of feel like I have to look out for him or her." Otis said.

"Did something happen?" Maeve asked.

"Ola vaguely asked Jakob about whether he'd want a child and he said no." Otis said.

"That sucks but maybe his answer will be different once he knows he's actually having one." Maeve said.

"Yeah but what if it's not? What if he abandons the baby or doesn't want to be a part of it's life?" Otis asked.

"Then as much as it sucks, it's better for him to stay out of the baby's life than to be there but make the baby feel like he didn't want him or her." Maeve said.

"Yeah I guess you're right." Otis said.

"Is this about your dad?" Maeve asked.

"I want to tell you that it's not but it probably is." Otis said.

"I'm sorry, I know what it's like when your parent isn't there for you." Maeve said.

"Growing up, I always just felt quite unwanted. Its not because my mom didn't try to be there, she did but I always pushed her away. And she had to manage an angsty me and take care of the house, run her practice. It was all very hard, harder than I've ever let myself admit." Otis said.

Maeve didn't say anything; she just held Otis' hand urging him to continue.

"I don't want this baby to feel the way I felt for so long. I don't want my mom to have to go through raising another child all alone. I want to be better for her." Otis said.

"But you are there for her, you have been since the second you found out. You clearly love this child, even before it's been born and I'm sure that makes your mom feel so much better." Maeve said.

Otis held Maeve's face in his hands and pulled her in for a kiss. There was so much he wanted to her, to tell her about all the ways in which she had saved him from himself and a kiss felt like the perfect way to start.

"What was that for? "Maeve asked, pulling away, still a little breathless.

"For always being there for me. You're the reason I decided to change, to be a better person." Otis said.

Maeve looked a little confused but still touched.

"After my party, I knew that if I didn't get my shit together, I would lose you and if I'm being honest, you're the reason I finally feel wanted, maybe for the first time inm my life. Even before we got together, just being able to run the clinic with you, hearing you tell me I was good at something, it was everything to me. It still is." Otis said.

"I love you." Maeve said.

"I love you too." Otis said, pulling her in for another kiss.

"I think we should go out on a date next week." Otis said, after a few moments.

"Aren't we already dating?" Maeve asked.

"I mean yeah but a proper date, where we go out and eat and spend time together. I feel like we haven't gotten any time to ourselves and I miss you." Otis said.

"That sounds perfect." Maeve said with her Otis smile.

Otis smiled back at her and was going to lean in to kiss her again but was interrupted by Maeve picking up his laptop.

"What are you doing?" Otis asked.

"What does it look like I'm doing? I'm trying to help you pick out a crib for the baby." Maeve said. Teasingly.

Otis just stared at Maeve for a second because he couldn't decide if he was feeling touched by how sweet Maeve was being or frustrated by how she had decided to focus on this right when they were finally getting some alone time. But watching Maeve bite her lip in concentration as she tried to find a crib that was just right, Otis decided he was more in love with her than ever had been before.


	25. Chapter 25

Maeve hadn't stopped thinking about her date with Otis. It was supposed to be tomorrow night and all she wanted was for today to come to an end just so tomorrow could start already. But of course, today was supposed to be one of the longest days ever. Her group for health class, along with Otis' group had to stay back after school because neither group had gotten any of their assignments done. Everything with Jean and general drama that seemed to envelope them wherever they went had started interfering with Maeve and Otis' schoolwork. Who would've thought, huh?

Maeve was getting things from her locker while she and Aimee waited for Otis.

"I still don't get why you have to stay back for health class." Aimee said.

"I told you, Aimes, we're the only two groups that are always behind on our assignments. Mr. Hendricks is punishing us." Maeve said, shoving books into her bag.

"What's the big deal with being behind on your assignments? You have bigger things to worry about right now." Aimee said.

Maeve smiled at Aimee being Aimee. Even though she wasn't supposed to, she'd told Aimee about Jean. If she was being honest, she needed someone to vent to about how overwhelming everything got sometimes. "Yeah but I don't think Mr. Hendricks cares about that." Maeve said.

"Why not though? Aren't teachers supposed to be interested in what's going on with us? They keep going on about how much they're here for us and how what we feel is valid. But somehow it isn't that important when it comes to assignments." Aimee said.

"I mean you kind of have a point but I don't think my boyfriend's mum is pregnant with his ex-girlfriend's dad's baby is a legitimate excuse for failing a class." Maeve said, shutting her locker.

"It would've been if we were on a teen drama. I've never seen a single character attend class, yet none of them ever get punished for it." Aimee said, she looked like she was honestly confused about why they weren't been treated like the characters of a teen drama on the CW.

"It's almost as if trashy TV with 26-year-olds playing teenagers isn't an accurate representation of real life." Maeve said, feigning surprise.

"Hey." Otis said, hugging Maeve from behind.

"Hey." Maeve said, turning around in Otis' arms and kissing him.

"You guys are really cute." Aimee said with a smile.

"I know." Maeve said with a huge smile, still looking at Otis.

Otis smiled back at Maeve, pulling her in for another quick kiss. "What were you guys talking about before I came?" He asked.

"About how your mum being pregnant with Ola's dad's child would've been an acceptable excuse for you failing health class, if this was a teen drama." Aimee said. She spoke with such an air of nonchalance that it took Maeve a second to realise what had just happened.

"You told her?" Otis asked, taking a step back from Maeve.

"Yes but it's only because she's my best friend and I needed someone to talk to." Maeve said.

Otis didn't say anything, he just stared at Maeve. He wasn't sure how he felt about this.

"For what it's worth, I haven't told anyone, except Steve. I kind of let it slip while I was rambling the other day but don't worry he won't tell anyone." Aimee said.

Maeve shot Aimee a look.

"I was trying to help!" Aimee said, raising her hands defensively.

"It's okay, Aimee. Please don't tell anyone else." Otis said with a sigh.

"I'm sorry baby." Maeve said, giving Otis a kiss on his cheek.

Otis didn't know what to say, he just stood there and blushed.

"So has your mum told Ola's dad about the baby?" Aimee asked.

"What?" Jakob asked.

Aimee, Otis and Maeve turned around completely in sync. Jakob was standing behind them with Ola.

"Jakob, what are you doing here?" Otis asked.

"What did she just say?" Jakob asked.

"Aimee was.." Otis tried to come up with something to cover up what had just happened but he was drawing a blank.

"Is Jean pregnant with my child?" Jakob asked.

"Yes." Otis said, finally.

"And all of you know about this but she didn't tell me?" Jakob asked.

"She wants to, she just didn't know how to." Otis said.

"Is this why you've been asking me about babies?" Jakob asked, angrily turning to Ola.

"Well, yeah." Ola said.

"You knew about this and thought it was a better idea to beat around the bush instead of telling me?" Jakob asked.

"I wanted to let Jean tell you, I just wanted to get a feel of how you would react." Ola said.

"I can't believe this." Jakob said, starting to walk away.

"Dad!" Ola called out after him.

"Go to class Ola, I need to go right now." Jakob said, the rage evident in his voice.

"Thanks a lot!" Ola screamed walking away from Otis.

"I'm sorry!" Aimee said.

"It's okay Aimes, you couldn't have known. We'll see you after class." Maeve said.

Maeve and Otis practically power walked after Ola. They didn't even notice that Jackson, Ruby and Isaac were already in class.

"Ola, listen.." Otis began.

"Hey everyone!" Mr. Hendricks said walking into class.

Everyone collectively sighed. Not a single person in that room wanted to be there.

"I know this isn't what you wanted but look at it as dedicated time for catching up. This will also teach you to take health class seriously. I'm going to head out, I'll be back to check in on you guys in a little bit." Mr. Hendricks said, walking out.

"Ola!" Otis said, as soon as Mr. Hendricks had walked out of the room.

"How can you be this irresponsible!" Ola said, raising her voice.

Everyone in the room was now staring at Ola and Otis.

"I agree! How could you be so irresponsible?!" Isaac asked.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Maeve asked, turning to Isaac.

"You know what I'm talking about and the truth is, it's very irresponsible." Isaac said.

"I can't believe I'm saying this but I agree with Isaac, it is quite irresponsible and I don't think you guys are ready." Ruby said.

Otis, Ola,Maeve and Jackson stared at Isaac and Ruby with utter confusion ethed on their faces. Maeve thought of addressing this but decided against it because she honestly did not give a fuck about what Isaac and Ruby had to say at the moment.

"It wasn't Otis' fault, I told Aimee." Maeve said.

"It wasn't your place to do that. It's not your secret to tell." Ola said.

"What do you mean it's not Maeve's secret to tell?! If anyone doesn't have a right in this situation it's you." Isaac said, turning to Ola.

"Isaac, I don't really know you but from what I've heard, you have a thing for jumping into things that have nothing to do with you. I have zero patience for any of that shit right now, so I would suggest you back the fuck off." Ola said.

Isaac visibly shrunk a little. He didn't really know Ola but he was kind of scared of her right now.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have told Aimee but at least now you don't have to be the one to tell your dad." Maeve said.

"Why would Ola tell her dad that Maeve is pregnant? Is this a throuple kind of thing? I thought you were dating that Lily girl?" Ruby asked.

"WHAT?!" Maeve asked, raising her voice.

"You don't have to hide it anymore Maeve. But I meant it when I said it was irresponsible. It's bad enough that you got pregnant but that too with Otis' baby? Why would you do that to yourself?" Isaac asked.

"What the fuck is that supposed to mean?" Otis asked, beginning to walk toward Isaac.

Maeve hadn't ever seen Otis look this angry. If they weren't in such a shitty situation right now, she would've pointed out how cute she found it. But right now wasn't the time.

"It means that Maeve should not be having children with someone like you." Isaac said.

"So she should be having children with someone like you?" Otis asked.

"She shouldn't be having kids at all, she's like 10. Also this is very weird power struggle that's going on between you two, needs to stop it's freaking me out. Also, Isaac, I don't know you and beyond a point I don't care about this situation but you being creepily obsessed with Maeve needs to stop. I feel like I'm on an episode of YOU." Ruby said.

It was weird but Ruby's little rant had managed to quiet down the room, something no one else had managed.

"If Maeve isn't pregnant, who is?" Jackson asked, speaking up for the first time. Everyone had lowkey forgotten he was even in the room because of how silent he was.

"My mum is." Otis said.

"So what does this have to do with Ola?" Jackson asked.

"Her father is the father of mum's baby." Otis said.

"Wow. Didn't you Ola and you date?" Jackson asked.

"Yes." Otis said, cringing a little.

"I feel like I'm on an episode of Gossip Girl, I kind of like it." Ruby said.

"Anyway. I'm not pregnant and even if I were, it wouldn't be any of your business." Maeve said, shooting Isaac a look.

"Can you guys just not tell anyone about this? I don't want this to spread and for it be weird for my mum or for us." Otis said.

"Yeah of course." Jackson said.

"Yeah, I'm just glad it wasn't Maeve." Ruby said with a laugh which stopped the second Maeve shot her a look.

"Isaac?" Maeve asked.

"Yeah sure whatever." Isaac said.

"What was your dad even doing here?" Otis asked, turning to Ola.

"He wanted to take me out to lunch because of "weird" I'd been acting." Ola said.

Otis and Ola began laughing, defusing the tension in the room.

The rest of the day just went in everyone discussing the drama and everything that had happened. It felt like a weird version of the Breakfast Club where instead of discussing their insecurities, everyone was talking about how complicated their families were. It was kind of nice.

"It's been two hours. Hope you all got some work done. You're free to go." Mr. Hendricks said.

Everyone rushed out of the room, as much as they loved the bonding session, everyone hated being in school longer than they had to.

"So that was something." Otis said, as he walked out of the school with Maeve.

"Can you believe they thought I was pregnant?" Maeve asked.

" I mean a lot of their weird behavior now makes sense." Otis said.

"Yeah I guess it does." Maeve said.

"I'm kind of glad Jakob knows, it means we can actually go back to our normal lives." Otis said.

"Yeah I guess." Maeve said.

"The only thing getting me through this is knowing we're going on our date tomorrow." Otis said.

"I'm really excited." Maeve said, looking like she was glowing.

"Me too. I love you, thank you for staying through all this insanity." Otis said.

"Always." Maeve said, pulling Otis in for a kiss.


	26. Chapter 26

**A/N: Hey guys, hope you're all doing well! I'm back, I honestly didn't plan on disappearing but it just happened. To make up for the lack of updates, this chapter is going to be an Otis and Maeve only event. This is also my longest chapter till now (I think) so I hope you guys like it xx**

Maeve looked in the mirror straightening the black dress she had worn to the dance last year. Otis had called her earlier that day to let her know they were going to a fancy place for dinner and this was the only decent dress she had. Maeve wasn't sure why she was so nervous, this wasn't her first date with Otis but somehow it felt different. They'd been doing really great lately and things had progressively been getting more serious between them. And while that was exactly what Maeve wanted commitment had always made her nervous.

She was about to spiral further, when a knock on her door snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Hey." Maeve said, opening the door.

"Wow." Otis said, staring at Maeve.

"Thanks, you look really handsome." Maeve said with a smile.

Otis absentmindedly brushed a hand over his shirt while still staring at Maeve. It felt like his mind was short-circuiting.

"Come on, you've already seen me in this dress." Maeve said, getting a little shy.

"Doesn't mean you look any less beautiful than you did that night." Otis said finally.

Maeve didn't say anything, she just blushed. She had no idea she was even capable of blushing but here she was, completely smitten.

"Are you ready to go?" Otis asked after he had come to terms with how beautiful Maeve looked.

"Yeah." Maeve said, holding onto to Otis' arm.

Maeve and Otis walked to Otis' car in silence, just enjoying each other's company.

"I had no idea you even knew how to drive." Maeve said, looking over at Otis once they'd begun driving to the restaurant.

"I learnt last year but I don't really like it. Besides cycling is better for you and the environment." Otis said, looking kind of proud of himself.

"And you've always been someone who's super into fitness." Maeve said teasingly.

Otis shot Maeve a look before focusing on the road again. 

"I'm kidding. I actually think you look really cute with your little helmet." Maeve said, biting her lip to suppress the smile that was threatening to take over her face.

Otis began short-circuiting again because he had no idea what to say. He just reached over and held Maeve's hand in his own.

They sat in silence for a while until Maeve noticed the smile on Otis' face.

"What?" Maeve asked, looking over at Otis with a smile of her own.

"What?" Otis asked, briefly looking over at Maeve.

"You're smiling." Maeve said.

"Yup." Otis said.

"Why?" Maeve asked.

"Because I'm thinking about the dance and how the first time I saw you that night, all I could think about was how much I wished you'd gone with me. I was so hopelessly in love with you and I was desperately trying to move on and I thought it was working, till I saw you in that dress. And when you opened the door tonight, in the same dress, I kind of felt like we were getting another shot at what should've been our night." Otis said.

Maeve smiled her signature Otis smile. She wanted so badly to grab him and kiss him but she wasn't really in the mood for getting into a car accident so she managed to control herself.

"You know, that was the night I knew for sure that I really liked you." Maeve said.

"Wait, you liked me back then?" Otis asked.

"Yeah." Maeve said.

"You're making it sound like it was obvious but it wasn't." Otis said.

"Well apparently it was obvious to everyone, including Jackson." Maeve said.

"Wait what? Is that why he was so mad at me?" Otis asked.

"Yeah, I guess so." Maeve said.

"Why didn't you say anything?" Otis asked.

"I was about to but then Jackson told me about the whole you helping him purse me thing and it kind of killed the mood." Maeve said.

"Yeah, sorry about that." Otis said, cringing a little.

"Why did you help him if you liked me?" Maeve asked.

"I wasn't trying to help him, I thought the whole grand public gesture thing would turn you off but it actually worked out really well." Otis said, sounding a little embarrassed.

Maeve was silent for a second before she burst out laughing.

"What?" Otis asked.

"That's actually really funny and something that would so happen to you." Maeve said, trying to stop laughing but failing.

Otis didn't say anything; he just shook his head in annoyance. Noticing this, Maeve leaned over and gave him a peck on his cheek, which did a pretty good job of calming him down.

As soon as they reached the restaurant, Otis got out of the car and opened the door for Maeve. Maeve just stared at the huge glass building before her. Even though they hadn't entered the hotel yet, Maeve was already feeling a little out of place. Before Maeve could overthink anything else, Otis and her were ushered inside the hotel and into the restaurant. They were seated at a table in the corner. Everything was moving really fast around them; it was becoming hard for Maeve to keep track of what was going on. Things only slowed down when she was handed a menu by one of the staff there.

"Isn't this place a little too expensive? We can go somewhere else." Maeve said, looking over the menu.

"Don't worry about the price, I've been saving money from the clinic for months. You should get whatever you like." Otis said, looking up from the menu and smiling at Maeve.

Maeve just nodded in response. She tried to pick the simplest thing on the menu and was glad to find out Otis was going to be placing the order for the both of them. In every other circumstance, Maeve would've hated being with a guy who placed the order for her as well but she could tell Otis could sense her unease and she was grateful that he had taken over. She looked around at the other people in the restaurant and even though they were kind of dressed like her, she couldn't help but feel like she didn't belong there.

"Do you not like this place?" Otis asked, once someone had taken their order.

"No, it not that. It's just, isn't a little too fancy?" Maeve asked.

Before Otis could answer, someone came and served Maeve and Otis their appetizers.

Maeve stared at the multiple folks and knifes around her, not knowing which one was the correct one to use. She looked over at Otis with a pained expression.

"I have no idea which one is the right one." Otis said.

"What?" Maeve asked, feeling like Otis was kidding.

"Yeah I have no clue." Otis said.

"Then how did you pick this one?" Maeve asked, gesturing towards the folk in Otis' hand.

"I usually just pick the one that looks shiniest and start from there." Otis said.

Maeve stared at Otis for a second before she burst out laughing. She ended up being a lot louder than she intended and she looked around to see some people staring at her. She immediately stopped and looked over at Otis, expecting to see him look super embarrassed but the only look on his face was that of pure adoration.

Otis reached across the table and held Maeve's hand. "I don't care that this place is fancy, I don't need to be at a place like this to have a good time. I know I would have the best night with you even at a McDonald's drive thru, I just really like the food here and wanted us to have a night which wasn't filled with greasy fries and milkshakes. But if that's what you want, just say the word and we'll be out of here. I just want us to have a good night, it doesn't matter where." He said.

"I love you and I love that you planned this for us. Let's stay." Maeve said, squeezing Otis' hand.

"I love you too." Otis said, squeezing Maeve's hand back.

Seeing Otis' reaction made Maeve realise that she had nothing to be embarrassed about. Otis loved her and that's all that mattered. She decided to make it a point to have a good time and she did.

They had just finished eating their main course and now it was time for dessert. By this time, Maeve had calmed down about the prices and was looking forward to seeing what they had on the menu.

"Would you like some dessert?" The manager asked. Maeve and Otis had been getting special treatment all night since the owner of the restaurant had been a client of Jean's.

"No thanks, could we have the check please?" Otis asked.

"Certainly." The manager said, walking away.

Maeve looked at Otis with a confused expression.

"We're not having desert here." Otis said, as he proceeded to pay the bill.

Maeve didn't say anything; she let Otis lead her out of the restaurant and into his car.

"Where are we going?" Maeve asked once they were in the car.

"You'll see, it's not too far from here." Otis said.

Maeve wanted to know more but she decided to drop it. She just turned on some slow music on her phone and allowed it to take over the comfortable silence in the car. She was so busy staring outside her window that she didn't realise when they reached.

"We're here." Otis said.

Maeve looked up to see they were at a McDonald's drive thru.

"Haha, really?" Maeve asked, laughing.

"I told you, I could have a good time anywhere, as long as you're with me." Otis said, stopping the car as they waited in line.

Maeve reached across the seat and pulled Otis in for a slow kiss. She wanted to convey to him how much he meant to her and words had never really been her thing. They only pulled away when the car behind them started honking, asking them to move.

Otis took a second to collect himself before he drove.

"Hi, can we have one McFlurry and, Maeve what do you want?" Otis asked, turning to Maeve.

"I'll have the same." Maeve said.

"Two McFlurries then." Otis said.

Once they'd gotten their order, they began driving towards Maeve's house which wasn't too far away.

"I actually know the perfect place where we can eat these." Maeve said, grabbing Otis' hand once they reached the trailer park.

Otis just followed Maeve up the small hill at the top of the park. It had a very nice view of their city. They sat there on the grass underneath the stars that covered the night sky.

"I had a really good tonight." Maeve said, looking over at Otis.

"Me too. I'm sorry if you didn't like the restaurant. " Otis said, taking a break from eating his ice cream.

"No, I did but what I liked even more was how much you didn't care about what anyone else thought. It was very unlike you." Maeve said.

"Yeah I know but since we've gotten together, I find myself caring a lot less about what anyone thinks. I think it's because I always felt like I was missing something in my life, someone who could see me and so I spent a lot of time worrying if I would ever find anyone who would like me or care for me. I was always occupied by doing what everyone around me would want so that they would want me but then I met you and I realised someone could actually like me for me." Otis said.

"For what it's worth, I love everything about you." Maeve said, picking up her spoon and putting some ice cream on Otis' nose.

"What'd you do that for?!" Otis asked, wiping the ice cream off his nose.

"You're cute when you get all bothered." Maeve said, smirking.

"Is that right?" Otis asked.

"Um hmm." Maeve said, leaning closer to Otis.

Otis moved forward and closed the gap between them. He tangled his hand in Maeve's hair and pulled her closer. They only pulled away when they ran out of air.

"Do you want to come back to my place?" Maeve asked, the uncertainty evident in her eyes.

"Yeah, are you sure?" Otis asked.

"Yeah. I know I want to do this with you. I'm ready and I love you. Are you ready?" Maeve said, giving Otis a quick peck.

"Yeah." Otis said with a smile.

Maeve reached her hand out to grab Otis' and they headed down the hill towards her trailer. Both of them knew what was going to happen but neither of them needed to say it. They'd developed a connection that didn't need words. And even though both of them were nervous as hell, they were also excited because they knew they were going to take a huge step in their relationship. There was no one either of them trusted more and they knew it was going to be worth the wait.


	27. Chapter 27

**A/N: Hey guys, hope you're all okay and staying safe!x Sorry for disappearing but my laptop stopped working 6 times over the last month. To the extent that I bought a new laptop, which also stopped working. So I haven't had a lot of opportunity to write plus I'm going through the worst case of writer's block. I'm trying to figure out where to take the story, that's not to say I'm ending it, just that updates might take some time but I'm working on it. To anyone who has read, voted on or reviewed this story, thank you! I appreciate the support so much and I hope you like the direction the story takes xx**

Otis snuck out of Maeve's bed and began to get dressed. He was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that him and Maeve had sex. He had always been awkward when came to his feelings, especially when it came to expressing them to other people. He was afraid of saying the wrong thing, which is why he decided to cook Maeve breakfast, just to show her how much last night meant to him.

Just as he was about to walk out of the room, he turned to make sure Maeve was still sleeping. He couldn't help but stand there and stare at her for a few moments. She was sleeping on her stomach, her mouth slightly open with her hair untidily covering her face. She was a complete mess but Otis had never loved her more. She was beginning to turn around a little, almost as if she was on the verge of waking up. Otis decided to rush out of the room, not wanting to miss the opportunity of giving Maeve breakfast in bed.

He entered the kitchen as quietly as possible, shutting the bedroom door behind him. He began opening random cabinets, hoping to find some ingredients for pancakes but all Maeve had was cereal and barely passable milk. Otis was somehow not surprised at that. So he decided to make them both a cup of coffee and cereal. Just as he was about to take their breakfast to Maeve, she walked out of the room. She was wearing one of her band t-shirts that was way too big for her and seeing her almost made Otis drop the bowl in his hand. It was crazy how beautiful she looked even when it was super early in the morning.

"Morning." Maeve said, walking up to Otis and kissing him as if her life depended on it.

"Morning." Otis said, as a blush crept up the back of his neck.

"What's all this?" Maeve asked, looking around.

"I wanted to give you pancakes in bed but you didn't have any ingredients so I decided on cereal in bed." Otis said.

"That's really sweet, but you didn't have to do that." Maeve said with her signature Otis smile.

"Yeah but I always fuck up when it comes to saying things so I wanted to do something to show you how much last night meant to me." Otis said.

"Last night meant a lot to me too." Maeve said, leaning in to kiss Otis again.

Just as they were about to kiss, Otis' phone buzzed.

"Who is it?" Maeve asked, her arms wrapped around Otis' neck.

"I don't know, I'll check later." Otis said, wrapping his arms around Maeve's waist.

Just as he was about to lean in again, Otis' phone buzzed a couple of more times.

"Oh for fuck's sake!" Otis said, pulling out his phone.

"Who is it?" Maeve asked.

"Ruby, she's asking when we're going to meet to discuss our assignment." Otis said.

Maeve had no idea what happened but hearing Ruby's name set off an alarm in her head. Since getting together with Otis, Maeve had gotten a lot better at handling her often-irrational fears but this was not one of those times.

"You should go for your meeting. " Maeve said.

"Oh it isn't for a while." Otis said, leaning in again.

"Oh I just remembered, I'm supposed to meet Aimee before school. I'm going to get ready." Maeve said, pulling away.

"Is everything okay?" Otis asked, confusion etched on his face.

"Yeah, why wouldn't it be?" Maeve asked, walking towards the bathroom.

"I don't know, you just suddenly seem to have gotten upset. Is it something I did?" Otis asked.

"No, I'll see you later." Maeve said.

Otis just stood there, staring at the closed bathroom door. He had no idea what had just happened but he couldn't help but wonder if this was Maeve starting to regret last night. He was nervous something like this would happen, that once they'd take this last step in their relationship, Maeve would realise she didn't really want him. All he wanted was to pound on her door and ask her what the fuck was going on in that head of hers but he decided against it. He knew it was never a good idea to push Maeve when she got like this. She needed space and even though Otis hated it, he knew he had to give her that. So he grabbed his stuff and reluctantly left Maeve's trailer, not knowing where he was headed.

"So you just left him?" Aimee asked, as she walked towards school with Maeve.

"I panicked!" Maeve said.

"Why?" Aimee asked.

"Because seeing Ruby's name triggered something in my head. It brought back everything I felt when I found out they'd slept together. All I could think about was how at this point in the relationship, one of us usually loses interest and what if that's what happens with Otis and I? What if he's just not into this anymore?" Maeve asked, looking panicked.

"Because Otis is unlike anyone you have ever been with. He's in love you and you're crazy about him. I know you've dated some dickheads but Otis isn't one of them." Aimee said.

"I know, you're right. But I've never been good at this relationship thing, I mean look at Jackson and I." Maeve said.

"What about you two?" Aimee asked.

"He's a great guy and after awhile I was just over the whole relationship thing." Maeve said.

"Are you worried Otis will lose interest or that you will?" Aimee asked.

"I don't know." Maeve said.

"And besides, you didn't leave Jackson because you were over being in a relationship, it was because you were so clearly in love with Otis that seeing you and Jackson together was just awkward at that point. He's a great guy, I agree but that's not why you left." Aimee said.

"You're right." Maeve said.

"Don't let the voice in your head wreck a good thing, Maeve." Aimee said, seriously.

"You're right, I'm just driving myself crazy. I'm letting my past get in the way of the best thing that's ever happened to me and I can't keep doing this." Maeve said.

"Yeah, you can't. Go find him." Aimee said.

"Thanks, Aimes." Maeve said.

Maeve pulled out her phone to text Otis. "Can we talk?" She typed out quickly and began looking for him.

"Sure. See you in the field in 5?" Otis texted back with shaking hands. He wanted to seem normal but he was shit scared she was going to break up with him.

Maeve rushed to the field; she wanted to clear things up as fast as possible. She hated being in this weird place with Otis. She found him sitting in the bleachers and took a seat next to him.

"Hey." Maeve said.

"Hey." Otis said, the nervousness evident in his voice.

"About this morning.." Maeve began but was interrupted by Otis.

"Look if you regret what happened last night, I think we should talk about. I don't, not even a little bit; it was one of the best nights of my life. But if it wasn't for you, I promise, I'll try and talk through it with you." Otis said.

Maeve just stared at Otis, in awe of how understanding he was trying to be.

"Last night meant everything to me." Maeve said, quickly pecking Otis on his lips.

"Then what happened?" Otis asked.

"I just kind of panicked." Maeve said.

"Why?" Otis asked.

"Because usually at this point in the relationship, one of us loses interest and when I saw that text from Ruby, alarm bells started ringing in my head." Maeve said.

"You know there's nothing going on between Ruby and I, right?" Otis asked.

"Yeah, I do." Maeve said.

"Then what's wrong?" Otis asked.

"I don't know." Maeve said.

"I love you, Maeve. You know that right?" Otis asked.

"Yeah." Maeve said.

"I don't have any doubts about wanting to be with you. But I think you do." Otis said.

"I don't." Maeve said, not knowing what else to say.

"I don't know what kind of guys you dated before me but I'm not in this with you for the sex. I want to be with you, I have since the day we met. But I feel like you never really trust me." Otis said.

"I do trust you, I do! This isn't about you, I swear! This is just because of the kind of relationships I've had in the past and because of my experiences with abandonment, I push people away before they do it to me." Maeve said.

"Maeve, I want nothing more than to be with you and support you while you work through whatever you need to. But I need to know that you want me too. I'm insecure too; all I do is wonder why someone like you is with someone like me. And while I deal with that because I know that's a me thing, if you really are having doubts, maybe you should take some time to figure out what you want." Otis said.

"Otis.. It's not that.. I…" Maeve struggled to come with an explanation.

"I'm not going anywhere, Maeve. I just think maybe you need some time to figure it out. And once you do, whatever it is, we'll deal with it together." Otis said.

"I love you." Maeve said, not knowing what else to say.

"I love you too." Otis said.

Maeve began to sob; she didn't know how they'd reached this point. She put her head on Otis' chest and he wrapped his arms around her as she cried. He meant it when he said he'd be there for her but this back and forth was killing him. He didn't want to live his life waiting for the day Maeve would wake up and realise she didn't want him anymore.


	28. Chapter 28

**A/N: GUESS WHO'S BAAAACK. Hope you're all happy and safe wherever you are xx I'm so sorry for disappearing for two whole months that was never the plan. I'd go into all the reasons why I couldn't write but that would need it's own chapter lol. Tbh I'm not sure how long this story is going to be, I haven't really made up my mind. If there's something you guys would want to see, lmk. To anyone who has read, voted on or reviewed this story, thank you!x I read all your reviews/comments and they always make my day and I appreciate each and every one. I'm going to stop rambling now lol. Hope you like the chapter xx**

Maeve was a wreck. It had been two days since Otis had asked for a break. She wasn't sure what that meant. Was it a break up? She'd tried calling and texting him and even though he had answered, she could tell he was unsure about what he wanted. She hadn't gotten out of bed all weekend, despite multiple requests from Aimee to come over and watch 10 Things I Hate About You. It was Monday now and Maeve had no intention of getting out of bed today either.

She had been awake for hours and even though she had plenty of time to get dressed and be on time for school, she decided to stay in bed and just stare at the ceiling. The simple act helped make her feel numb somehow, as if just staring at the ceiling could stop the sea of thoughts and insecurities that were threatening to enter her consciousness.

"You're still in bed? Get up!" Aimee said, suddenly barging into Maeve's room.

Maeve looked up at Aimee for a moment and then went back to admiring the roof of her trailer. Under normal circumstances, she would ask Aimee how she got in but right now she really couldn't care less.

"Maeve? Are you listening to me?" Aimee asked, taking a seat on Maeve's bed.

"I'm not going to school today." Maeve said.

"Why not?" Aimee asked.

"Because I don't feel like and besides, it's not like I'm going to be missing anything. They barely teach us anything." Maeve said.

"That's not the point." Aimee said.

"What's the point then?" Maeve asked, not really looking for an answer.

"The point is you haven't left your bed in two days and that's not good. I know you're hurting Maeve but you need to take care of yourself." Aimee said.

Maeve didn't say anything. She started looking for something else in her room to focus on.

"You and Otis are going to be fine." Aimee said.

"How can you possibly know that?" Maeve asked, a little irritated.

"Because it's you guys, you always make it work." Aimee said.

"He's tired of me, Aimes. He's tried of me being a complete and utter mess all the fucking time." Maeve said.

"That's not true." Aimee said.

"Yes it is." Maeve said.

"If you think that's the truth then why don't you get out of bed and show him that's not true." Aimee said.

"Because I can't, I physically cannot. I feel like I'm in pain all the fucking time. I have never in my life felt like this. It's scary." Maeve said.

"If you love him this much, you need to fight for him. But more than that, you need to fight for yourself Maeve. You need to take care of yourself and stop selling yourself so short all the damn time. You're a smart, beautiful and talented girl, who deserves the fucking world. I know there's that voice in your head that tells you don't deserve anything good, that you don't deserve Otis but you do. That voice in your head is what you need to be at war with, not yourself." Aimee said.

Maeve felt the lump in her throat forming as she heard Aimee speak. She'd never had someone take care of her the way Aimee did. It made her wonder how she and Aimee even became friends in the first place, despite being so different. It didn't matter though because Aimee was literally the best person she'd ever met and she was so fucking lucky to have her.

Maeve hugged Aimee like her life depended on it because it kind of felt like it did. "Thank you so much, Aimes. You have no idea how much I needed to hear that. Thank you for always knowing what to say and always being so fucking wise. I love you so much."

"I love you too babe." Aimee said, hugging Maeve back just as tight.

"Okay, let's go to school." Maeve said, letting go of Aimee and getting out bed.

"Yay, okay! Go get dressed, I'll wait here." Aimee said with a smile.

Maeve still found the whole experience of getting ready pretty hard, every now and then, the voice in head would tell her to just go back to bed. But she decided to not listen and fight through it.

Her first class of the day was health and they were all supposed to meet separately based on their assigned groups. Maeve managed to reach before time so she decided to just wait in the room where she was supposed to meet Jackson and Isaac.

"Hey, you alright?" Jackson asked, walking into the room.

"Yeah." Maeve said, her voice a little low.

"You don't seem alright. Where's Otis?" Jackson asked.

"Why?" Maeve asked, getting a little pissed off.

"No reason, you guys are usually attached at the hip." Jackson.

"Yeah well, he's not here. As you can see." Maeve said.

"Sorry, didn't mean to offend you." Jackson said. He was a little taken aback by Maeve's sudden outburst but decided against asking her about it. He took a seat at the other end of the room and decided to do some reading.

"I'm sorry." Maeve said, a few moments later.

"It's alright." Jackson said.

"We're on a break." Maeve said.

"You and Otis?" Jackson asked.

"Yeah, at least that's what I think is going on." Maeve said.

"I'm sorry." Jackson said.

An awkward silence surrounded them as neither of them said anything for the next couple of minutes.

"Was I indecisive when we were together?" Maeve asked suddenly.

"What?" Jackson asked, looking up from his book.

"When we were together did I make you feel like I could never make up my mind about us?" Maeve asked.

"Kind of." Jackson said.

"How so?" Maeve asked.

"I'm not sure if this is a trick question." Jackson said, not wanting to get Maeve angry again.

"It's not. I'm just trying to figure some stuff out." Maeve said.

"Okay." Jackson said.

"So, how was I indecisive?" Maeve asked.

"I mean sometimes it felt like you were all in and other times it felt like you were going to run away the first chance you got." Jackson said.

"How?" Maeve asked.

"Well for one, you literally ran away when I made you meet my parents." Jackson said.

"Yeah I'm sorry about that." Maeve said, sheepishly.

"Nah, I should've known you were a flight risk." Jackson said.

Both Maeve and Jackson began to laugh; it had been a while since they'd been so comfortable around each other.

"So I guess I've always been on the verge of running away." Maeve said.

"Nah, I don't think that's it." Jackson said.

"Then?" Maeve asked.

"You were indecisive about us but not in general. You knew how you felt about Otis; you were just scared to act on it. And as far as we were concerned, I was just ready for more and you weren't. I think you wanted things to be somewhere between casual and serious and I wanted a proper relationship. We just never spoke to each other. We didn't stop to ask what the other wanted." Jackson said.

"Wow, you're really smart." Maeve said.

"That's what you have to say? I just gave you such a deep account of our relationship and that's what you have to say?" Jackson asked, teasingly.

"I mean yeah, I never knew you were this wise. But thank you. You're right, about everything." Maeve said.

"For what it's worth, I don't think the insecurity or the past is going to go away in the blink of an eye. I don't think you should expect yourself to wake up one morning and be completely fine and I don't think Otis should expect that either. I think you have to work through it, just like everything else. I've started seeing a therapist recently and it's really been helping me. It might be good for you too." Jackson said.

Maeve stayed silent, thinking about what Jackson had told her. Therapy had always been a fleeting thought, nothing she considered too seriously but maybe he was right. Maybe she didn't need to deal with this all on her own. Besides, the pain in her heart from the emotional burden she felt like she carrying was becoming overwhelming.

"I'll think about it." Maeve said with a smile.

"Okay. If you ever need someone to talk about it, let me know." Jackson said.

"Thanks Jackson. I'm sorry about everything and how it happened between us but I think you're a great guy. I really hope we can be friends." Maeve said.

"It's in the past, Maeve. Of course we can be friends." Jackson said.

Jackson and Maeve smiled at each other, knowing this was the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

**A/N: Idk how this chapter was but I hope you liked it. I think I might explore Maeve's mental health a bit more. It's something that came to me as I was writing. Not sure yet tho. Let me know what you think xx**


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